End of an Anchor
by foghorn
Summary: Inspired by Dashboard Confessional's song, this fic explores Harry and Ginny's relationship post Hogwarts. Not DH compliant. Please Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note:** This story does NOT follow DH canon. It is the inbetweens of my two previous fics "Derailed" and "Adventures in Dress Shopping". This is pretty much canon through HBP and takes certain things from DH, however, I've put together different pairings and kept certain characters alive because I love them, and that's just how it is going to be. Reviews are more than welcome and I'd love constructive criticsim. I really hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I am not JKR. I do not own any of the characters. This story is merely my own interpretation of events based in the Universe that she created. Please don't sue.

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Ginny was getting ready to leave for another Christmas at the Burrow. She was just happy to have managed getting a present for everyone and getting them wrapped in time. Well, almost in time, anyway. She was just finishing up wrapping the smaller part of Ron's gift (a watch with a hidden compartment for messages she'd found in a muggle shop.) and then she'd be finished with everything. After finishing the bow on the package, she shrunk it with a flick of her wand and packed it neatly in the small bag she was planning on carrying everything in. Just a quick run through her flat to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything for the kids and she was through the fireplace and on her way to her parent's house.

"AUNT GINNY!" She heard Felicity squeal as she bumbled over, nearly toppling on her way. She was still getting a handle on that whole walking thing. The Burrow's messy nature certainly wasn't going to help it. The redhead smiled and leaned down to pick up her darling god-daughter and hugged her tightly.

"And how is my favorite god-daughter, hm?" She asked, dropping a kiss on the girl's head. Felicity giggled and changed her hair color from the Christmassy green it was to the exact shade of red that Ginny had.

"I am well. Damien and I got into a fight before but he 'pologized so it's okay now." Hmm, somehow it was always Damien's fault.

"Well I'm glad to hear that it's okay now. Why don't you go run and tell everyone that I'm here and I'll get to putting the presents under the tree, okay?" Ginny coaxed as she crouched to set Felicity down and also get to work on un-shrinking the presents in her bag.

"Okay. Everyone's in the kitchen. They're all here already. Mummy said that she had to tell you something, secret. Well she didn't tell me it was a secret, but she was telling Daddy and I heard 'em talking and when they saw me they got real quiet like and I dunno what it was about." The little girl babbled for a moment before realizing that she had a mission. "I'll go get her!"

Ginny smiled after the girl and shook her head vaguely as considered what Tonks could possibly have to talk to her about that couldn't be mentioned in front of the kids? Christmas presents? Maybe. Most likely. Owls were a bit dodgy when it came to keeping things from the kids. It was probably just making sure that Ginny hadn't gone completely overboard…like last year. Which she had, but that was because she needed to spoil her god-daughter. And her nephew and niece. It wasn't like she had any kids of her own to spoil. She needed an outlet. Besides, she had to beat out Fred and George, who were worse than she was by far. At least Ginny's gifts were well-intentioned.

"Ginny-love!" Tonk's bright voice broke through the redhead's thoughts. "Happy Christmas! It's about time you showed up. What took you so long? Everyone else is here already!"

"Happy Christmas, Tonks." Ginny replied chipperly, taking the last present out of her bag and putting it back to normal size before standing up to give her friend a tight hug, careful to mind her very pregnant belly. "I had presents left to wrap still." She shrugged. "Ron and the kids, which really, is symbolic in a way, I think." As she talked she moved the presents to under the tree which was really too big for the spot it was in. "I hear from your charming daughter that there is something you need to talk to me about in secret?" Ginny looked over her shoulder at Tonks who suddenly became quite uncomfortable looking. "Because if it was about the presents, I swear I kept it to a minimum like you warned me to do. Or I tried to and then I just well…It's as minimum as I could manage."

"Oh, it's not about…Right…erm, Felicity wasn't supposed to know about that. And certainly not tell you about it." Tonks frowned for a moment. "Er, there's a bit of a Christmas surprise in the kitchen, which is why I'll be taking your wand." The older woman held out her hand for Ginny's wand expectantly.

Confused, Ginny gave a small laugh. "Tonks, what do you mean you need my wand? What's in the kitchen?" The redhead made a move to get around her friend, but Tonks, even pregnant was quicker and simply kept her hand held out.

"Gin, I love you, but I am a trained auror and I need your wand right now before I can let you into the kitchen." She had a very serious expression on her face and so Ginny did as she was told.

"Do I get to know what I'm walking into without my wand? Or are you simply going to let me come up with a thousand ridiculous theories as to what could be in my kitchen right now?"" Ginny asked, her mind already racing with possibilities, each more unlikely than the one before it.

"Well…" Tonks hesitated. Bugger, she was rubbish at this. Why couldn't Remus come in and talk to Ginny? He was so much better at this sort of thing. He was all calm and collected where she was all…wordless. "Erm, I think it'll be better if I just…It's not the sort of surprise I can readily explain?"

"Tonks, you're not making any sense at all." Ginny sighed, giving her friend a confused look. "I'm going into the kitchen. With or without my wand, and with or without a heads up for what I'm going to find in there." The redhead made another move to get past the pregnant Auror, but was once again blocked.

"Ginny, wait." Tonks grabbed her friend's shoulders and held her steady looking her in the eye and taking a deep breath. "Just…you know. Keep in mind you're at your parents' house and that there are small children in the room as well. So…Be gentle?" With that Tonks reluctantly stepped aside allowing Ginny to move into the kitchen, following close behind her.

Rounding the corner towards the doorway, Ginny glanced over her shoulder at Tonks when she heard the muffled voices. "Honestly, what has got you all in such a sta-." She stopped short when she set eyes on the one thing she hadn't considered while her mind was racing in the other room. He was far too conspicuous among her family to be able to properly hide and it was no surprise that Ginny's eyes had gone straight to him. The teasing smile that had been on her face was replaced with a look of shock and when everyone realized that she was standing in the room, it went oddly silent.

"Surprise!" Felicity and Damien yelled together tossing their hands in the air playfully, oblivious to the emotions coursing through their aunt or the tension that had suddenly come into the room.

"Told'ja we could keep a secret, Uncle Harry." Felicity said in her best 'I-told-you-so' voice.

"Yeah! We're brills at secrets!" Damien piped up.

Heart pounding something fierce Ginny had only one option at that moment. "Happy Christmas, everyone. It's time I left. I'll stop by tomorrow. Presents are under the tree." Her voice was shaking and she was already turning to leave before anyone really grasped what she'd said.

There were calls of her name from behind her, but she didn't hear them, she was too busy trying to get a grip enough on herself to apparate back to her flat. Instinctively she began digging for her wand, then cursed under her breath and turned instead to the door. She just had to get out of the house. That was the first priority. Get out of the house before anyone could try and calm her down. She didn't want to be calm. She wanted to be the opposite of calm. She wanted to scream and to yell and to hex something into oblivion, but she couldn't do that in the Burrow on Christmas Eve and so she was going to get out of there as quickly as she could manage.

The air was bitter and cold and the snow was deeper than she'd anticipated. She cursed again as she wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm and she kept walking, despite the fact that her pants were getting soaked. She was numb enough from that blow that she could hardly tell anyhow. All she had to do was walk. If she kept in motion, she'd be alright. She didn't want to think about how this simply proved everyone right. She didn't want to think about how it was months' work of moving on undone. She didn't want to think about how she'd just walked out on Christmas Eve with her family because she couldn't face him. All she wanted to think about was how quickly she could get away from it all. She couldn't stay there.

"Ginny! Gin!" She heard her name being called from the doorway but she couldn't pick out the voice above the wind and she'd be damned if she was looking back now. Damn Tonks for taking her wand. Of course now it all bloody well made sense. The secrecy, the wand taking, why Tonks could barely look her in the eye. A lot of bloody good hindsight did her.

In her seething and self-pity, she didn't hear anyone come up behind her and was subsequently startled by the feeling of warm hands on her shoulders.

"Ginger…" Charlie started in his best big brother voice, but Ginny didn't want to hear it. She had spent far too long burying this as deep as she could and just when she was able to pretend things were normal, the rug was pulled out from under her.

She pulled away from Charlie's touch and kept walking. Charlie, however was not one to give up so easily and kept up with her pace.

"It's cold out here, Gin. You can't very well walk back to London in the snow." He tried teasing.

"You could always give me my shagging wand back and then I wouldn't bloody well have to walk back in the snow." She pointed out, her tone as biting as the wind.

"Have you tried to take something away from Tonks, ever? I mean, you could try if you want, but keep in mind that she's all knocked up like and really oughtn't be kicking the shite out of you. Which she'd still do mind." He was trying to keep the mood light, but it wasn't working particularly well.

"I'm not going back in there." She said, finally stopping to turn and look at her brother. "I don't care if it's cold and I don't care if you lot all hate me for ruining Christmas. I'll stop by tomorrow and then that'll be that. But I am not going in there." Her voice was cracking and she could feel that lump rising in the back of her throat. "Buggering hell."

"Right, well, we should've expected this, I'm sure." Charlie murmured, mostly to himself. He hated seeing anyone in his family this upset, but especially Ginny. She'd had to grow up entirely too fast and this simply wasn't fair to put her through. He let out a sigh and took off his jacket to put on her shoulders. It was entirely too big for her, but it was at least warmer than that jumper she was wearing. "Look, I know that you're upset and you feel left out of the loop and Merlin knows iI/i know how much you hate that." He started, he glanced down at his boots in the snow and sighed again. "But I wouldn't have let him in the house if I wasn't entirely positive that he was sorry for what happened after Tonks's wedding and how he took off and all. Remus is the only reason he even got past the twins. They were ready to skin him alive, you know." He put a gentle hand on his sister's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "He said he's back for good. And you know, you might be peeved," He paused when Ginny gave him a look reminding him that that was probably the understatement of the century. "Bit more than peeved," he amended quickly. "But if he is back like he says he is, you think it's going to be easy to simply flee the house every time he's over? Or what about when you go and stop by 'Mione's or Ron's? Hmm? You can't simply avoid him forever, love. He wasn't out to hurt you intentionally, I can be sure of that. He just needed his time and his space to deal with everything too, yeah? I'm not saying you have to forgive him, but I iam/i saying that you've got to at least give him the chance to earn your forgiveness. "

Ginny took all of this in, arms folded tightly across her chest and a set expression on her face. She knew Charlie was only trying to help. She couldn't very well fault him for that, but she wasn't sure she could go back in that house. Not yet. She couldn't deal with him. Not in the Burrow in front of her entire family. Because what she had in mind involved quite a number of expletives that she wasn't sure the kids should be made aware of until they were at least in their fifth year of Hogwarts. What she had in mind involved showing a side that some people in that house had never seen and only a few had seen back when this had first started. She remained very quiet for a very long moment before shaking her head and then began walking again.

Charlie let out an almost defeated sigh at his sister's silence. "It's Christmas Gin. Peace on Earth, Good will towards man, you know?" He was pulling out all the stops that he could think of. "Forgiveness and embracing the New Year?" Okay, he was running out of material. "Would you just come inside? I'm freezing my bits off out here! I'll stick by you and whisper dirty jokes in your ear all night, or we can put Fred and George up to the task and that way you won't have to think about it all. And if it's really all that horrible, I'll floo you home and make Tonks give you back your wand."

It was Ginny's turn to sigh. "When did you get all responsible and mature, hmm?" She demanded, her face still showing just how upset she was. "And how am I supposed to bloody well argue with 'It's Christmas' and all that other seasonal shite, hmm? Completely unfair. You're as bad as Bill." Her tone didn't show any softening but Charlie knew well enough that she was teasing and he cracked a small smile. "Mind you, you're all lucky it's bloody well Christmas, otherwise I'd be an only child for the crap you pulled sneaking behind my back with this." She gave him a pointed look which told him that she meant business, but it really only made him grin wider.

"That's my girl. Now hop on." He said crouching to give her a piggy-back ride.

"Charlie, I'm a big girl now, you're not going to give me a piggy-back ride. Honestly. I can walk back to the hou-AHH" She was picked up, unceremoniously and thrown over her brother's shoulder. "CHARLIE!"

"I'm faster than you! Besides, you're never too big for me to carry around like a kid. I don't know if you know this Gin, but you're kind of tiny." Charlie laughed as he jogged back to the house. He made sure he was holding her securely, but he knew she'd be having a right fit no matter what. It wasn't like he was going to drop her. Compared to the baby dragons he'd had to wrestle, she weighed absolutely nothing.

"Prat." Was all she managed as she clung to him tightly. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to not think about him dropping her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Note:** This story does NOT follow DH canon. It is the inbetweens of my two previous fics "Derailed" and "Adventures in Dress Shopping". This is pretty much canon through HBP and takes certain things from DH, however, I've put together different pairings and kept certain characters alive because I love them, and that's just how it is going to be. Reviews are more than welcome and I'd love constructive criticsim. I really hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I am not JKR. I do not own any of the characters. This story is merely my own interpretation of events based in the Universe that she created. Please don't sue.

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Three times between Ginny coming back into the house and everyone getting ready for bed, she'd been tempted to slip through the fireplace. Despite Charlie keeping good on his promise to keep whispering horribly inappropriate jokes in her ear, (including one involving a dragon, a Slytherin and a banshee) there was never more than a twitch of a smile from Ginny all night, unless she was talking to the kids. There was no reason for them to be affected by all of this. It wasn't fair to do that to them. The rest of the family, she felt less guilty about as they'd gone behind her back. But when it came down to it, it was only Felicity and Damien and Sabrina who'd kept her from flooing home.

She hadn't made any attempt to talk to Harry. She didn't have anything to say to him. She had iplenty/i she wanted to iscream/i at him, but she'd already resigned herself to speaking softly and politely by staying in the Burrow and there was nothing she could say that was soft or polite. Charlie and Bill were doing a fairly decent job of keeping the pair out of eye-shot of each other, and when they could manage it, keeping them in separate rooms all-together. The Burrow was thankfully crowded enough to manage this without really disturbing the Christmas festivities.

The sleeping arrangements for the night were enough to make even Hermione dizzy, (which was why the brunette was glad to not be spending the night there. She and Teddy were going to the Notts' manor in the morning.) Ginny had stopped paying attention after being told where she was spending the night. She was to be bunking in the living room with Felicity and Damien. The two were under strict orders to fall asleep quickly otherwise Santa wouldn't show and they'd be present-less in the morning. Ginny knew sleep wasn't going to happen easily and she'd hate to keep the pair of them up all night with her tossing and turning so she went into the kitchen to fix herself a cuppa. Almost instantaneously, she heard the two kids whispering excitedly to each other.

Tonks still hadn't relinquished her wand--claiming in a hissed whisper when Ginny had taken her aside to demand it back, that it was for everyone's good and she'd get it back tomorrow before she left-- Thus forcing the redhead to go about tea-making in the muggle fashion. As she reached up for a mug she felt a sharp pang of déjà vu and quickly went back to being flat on her feet, staring at her mug with contempt. Apparently simply being in the Burrow didn't make her feel enough like a child again. She had to go and dredge up feelings from the summer before sixth year and be kept magicless just to bloody well top it off.

She put the kettle on the stove, a bit more forcefully than initially intentioned and plopped down in a chair at the kitchen table, letting her head fall onto crossed arms. Her still wild red waves fanned out, covering her arms completely and she took a few deep breaths. She needed to shut her mind up. She needed to be able to sort through everything that she was feeling. Taking a few deep breaths didn't help much, in the end, but they at least got her heart to slow down a bit.

When she heard the floor creek she picked her head up to see a figure lurking in the shadows. She couldn't tell who it was in the flickering candlelight. "Hullo?" She hissed a whisper into the hall, not wanting to wake the whole bloody house up.

"Erm…"She heard as the mystery person stepped into where the light was a bit better. "Hullo." Harry said, his hand nervously rubbing the back of his neck as he looked down at his feet a bit sheepishly. Every few seconds he'd chance a glance up at her to see if she was still glaring--she was. "I didn't realize it was you in here til I…Thought it was…Anyway…I…" He stammered. Gods he felt like an idiot just standing there bumbling through his words.

"I was just leaving." The redhead grumbled as she stood to make a quick dash for the living room. The kids were sleeping by now. It would be a good excuse to not want to—

"Ginny, wait." Harry blurted out, standing so he was blocking her exit. "Could we er…talk? Please?" The house was mostly quiet and he was going to take advantage of her not being able to yell at him straight away. He had too much he wanted to say before she got too far into screaming at him. Besides, it was as much privacy as they were bound to get while at the Burrow and he had a sneaking suspicion that if he didn't also take advantage of the fact that she was unarmed, he'd end up with more than just bat-sized bogeys flying about his face.

"What," She started, folding her arms across her chest in a protective maneuver to shut herself out from him, "makes you think I have anything to say to you?" Her tone was not an inviting one and it was almost enough to make Harry back off entirely. Maybe this whole thing was a mistake. He shouldn't have listened to Teddy. He was fine in Georgia. In Georgia he didn't have to worry about much so long as he kept himself from thinking about home. In Georgia he didn't have to try and pretend that he was getting better. And most importantly, in Georgia he didn't have angry redheads staring at him like they were deciding which way was best to kill him. But in Georgia he didn't have Felicity, his god-daughter, who'd grown up faster than he'd really anticipated. He also didn't have Remus, who he'd expected a bit more disappointment from, but who'd been so happy to see him that the rest of it seemed to slip away. He didn't have Tonks, who'd welcomed him back after a bit of explaining, hugging him tightly and telling him all about the baby she was expecting. He didn't have the Weasley family who it was a bit harder to convince that he was back for good and for all the right reasons, but who'd believed him in the end. Mostly thanks to Bill who'd apparently talked to Teddy along the way. The only one absent from ithat/i little get together was the one standing a few feet away, and the one who really mattered, in the end.

He took a deep breath. "Fine. Then don't talk." He still didn't move from her only exit. "Just listen. Please?" He was practically begging, but if she couldn't just listen…well then what was the point? "Please." He repeated. The water started to boil and Ginny made a move to shut the kettle off but Harry took care of it with his wand, pouring her cup and directing the milk and sugar exactly how she took it. "Sit down." He said softly, gesturing her back to where she'd been seated at the table.

Ginny was torn again. Fight or flight. That was the battle raging inside her. She didn't want to deal with him here. Now. She'd prefer not to deal with him at all, but least of all here where she couldn't get out everything she wanted to scream at him. But damn it if Charlie's words weren't ringing in her ears. Stupid Charlie. Stupid Christmas speech. She reluctantly took a seat, eyes still hard as rocks, and carefully took a sip of her tea. 'Give him a chance to earn your forgiveness'. Oh she was going to beat Charlie for this guilt trip.

"I was…a prat. There's no other way to put it except for that. I was…I wasn't me at Remus's wedding and then after that…I don't know. I got scared. I couldn't be what everyone wanted me to be. I couldn't do it. I wasn't that person and I had just gone through--" He paused and took a deep breath shaking his head. "I wasn't good for anyone then. Still not so sure about it now, but Teddy seems to think that me coming back is what everyone, including me, needs. So I'm here. And I'm apologizing and I'm hoping that one day you'll forgive me. Even though I don't deserve it in the slightest for how I treated you. That's likely my biggest regret, when it's all said and done. How I hurt you. And they shouldn't even let me be here talking to you now after what I did. But I promise that one day, I'll make it up to you. I don't know how or when I'll do it, but I will. Because you deserve better than all this. You deserve someone better than who I was. But I'm better…I think." He stopped again and examined her face. How could he have stayed away from that face? Even now, glaring at him, eyes boring into him, she was absolute beauty. "Ginny…" He moved closer to the table, leaning on the back of a chair and giving her a pleading look. "Let me make this up to you. Just give me a chance. I swear that I'll earn it. Please."

Ginny had remained oddly quiet. Her teacup was still pressed to her lips. She hadn't moved it since he'd started talking. A thousand thoughts were racing through her mind and she couldn't pin one down long enough to really get a good hold on it. Questions and answers and comments she'd promised herself she'd make if she ever saw him again, mixed with emotions and turmoil and pain and longing. Her hand was shaking as she set her teacup down on the table, taking a deep breath as she tried to process through everything. It was too much to feel at once and she wasn't sure words were actually going to happen if she opened her mouth. He'd hurt her in the worst way and here he was asking forgiveness. Forgiveness that on her darkest days she'd sworn she'd never give.

She wasn't the same girl he'd left behind and it was mostly his own fault for that. She was more guarded than she'd been and even a little jaded. Her view of the world was drastically different from before. When before she was sure that if she just held on long enough and loved enough and hoped enough that everything would be alright and they'd get through it in the end; she was now certain that no matter what one hoped, or loved, or believed, it could all fall apart in an instant and there was little to be done to stop it. And after all she'd gone through on her own, after thinking she finally had learned what she was meant to, he had to show up and turn it all on its head again.

"Please say something." Harry said after simply staring at her for a long time. Her silence made him uneasy as it was. Ginny was a natural chatterbox, no matter what the circumstance. But couple her quiet with the look she was still giving him and he was nervous that she hadn't even been paying attention to him pouring his heart out.

"I listened, which is all you asked of me five minutes ago." Ginny snapped, being sure to keep her voice low. The last thing she needed was for someone to wake up and see the pair of them at this. "Now, I'm thinking." She took a sip of her tea, expression unchanged. His words swirled around her head mingling with arguments she'd had with herself and traces of Charlie's words from earlier faded in and out. The fight they'd had on the last night she'd seen him at Tonks and Remus's wedding came into play as well and the jumble of words twisted and turned and would've caused anyone else a headache.

Harry was now watching her very carefully. There used to be a time when he could tell when she was through thinking. When she had reached a decision and she was ready to face it head on. More often than not he was able to tell what she'd decided before she even opened her mouth. But now, after so much, he wasn't sure he'd be able to find the subtle traces on her features. He worried that he'd miss it. That it would slip past him and he'd be blind sighted with whatever she chose. His eyes scanned her face, searching intently for that small change that would give her away. And after what seemed like another lifetime away, he saw it- The twitch in the corner of her mouth and the softening of her eyes.

"I don't forgive you and I can't trust you." She said flatly. "And this conversation is far from over until I can properly scream at you." She added with a point of her finger which meant that she was all business. "You can't disappear for forever and a day and then come back and expect me to just be happy about it, Harry! I heard you and I listened and I know you had your bloody reasons and I don't care if they were good reasons or not. I don't care if you needed to get away or not. That is not how you hurt me. You leaving didn't hurt nearly as much as you not trusting me enough…not loving me enough to let me in on any of it." She stopped to take a breath, not sure if she'd make it through this without cracking. "You hurt me by not giving me a chance to try and understand. To try and help you get through it. You hurt me by turning your back on me when I thought I was among the only people you'd be running to. I loved you. So much it was almost too much. Apparently it was too much because otherwise it wouldn't have hurt so bloody bad when you left. So no, Harry. I don't forgive you. And I don't trust you. And I don't care if you plan on sticking around or if you're just passing through on your next trip to somewhere that's simply not here. I can't care. Because if I cared…" She paused her voice breaking. "If I cared about any of that…then I might trick myself into falling into the same trap again. And I'm smarter than that. I've fallen for it twice and I won't do it a third time." She gave a furious wipe at her eyes and turned away from him. It was far from all off her chest but it was mostly there. Out in the open.

And now it was Harry's turn for stunned silence. He stood there, feeling worse than he'd felt in a good long time watching the girl he loved break down in front of him…because of him. Each word hurt like a punch to the gut and the worst part of it was, he hadn't seen all that before. He hadn't considered how she'd take it in terms of him not caring enough about her. That wasn't the reason he'd left at all. He cared too much about her to put that kind of burden on her shoulders. He didn't want anyone to have to take care of him. He couldn't bear for anyone to see him the way he was after the war was said and done, least of all her. She didn't deserve to have to put him back together when she had enough on her own plate to take care of.

She was getting up to leave, but Harry wasn't letting it end like this. He couldn't let it end like this. Not when she was so sure it was because of all the reasons he knew it wasn't. Not when he'd come all this way. Not when he realized just how much he needed Ginny Weasley in his life. If not the way she had been before he'd taken off, then at least as a friend. Someone there to give him a good smack in the head when he was being a prat. Someone who would tell him honestly what they thought of how he was acting. He needed that kind of reality check, and there was no one, except maybe recently Teddy Nott, who was able to do it the way she always knew how.

It was with this in mind that he stood in her way, taking her by the shoulders and forcing her to meet his emerald eyes. "Ginny, no. We're not done." He said, strength gaining in his voice. "You think I left because I didn't love you? Because I didn't trust you? You're wrong. That's not why…I left because I couldn't let you see me the way I was. I knew you'd try to pick up my pieces for me and-you deserved someone who was already whole to begin with." He stopped, letting his arms drop from her shoulders with a small sigh. "You deserved someone who could make sure all your pieces were intact and I was…I wasn't that person and I couldn't just stay here and push you away. I couldn't because I'm selfish and couldn't bear to see your face if I kept around and pushing against all of your efforts. So I took off, thinking it would be easier. And it was, but for all the wrong reasons. I was learning to cherish the things that were bound to destroy me in the end and while it seemed to hold me…carry me on when I didn't have the strength myself, I should've known better. It didn't do me any good in the end and I should've known. But I'm better now. Better than I was at least and I really want to try and make things right with you Gin." He looked down at the ground for a long moment, not saying anything before looking back up at her, meeting her just right brown eyes. "I'm sorry. For everything. I want to make it right."

Before Ginny had a chance to answer this time Damien appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, a look of utter horror on his little face. "Aunt Ginny! Uncle Harry! What are you doing?! If you don't get to bed then Santa's not gunna show up! He's gunna leave and we won't get no presents!!" The young boy was clearly upset by this fact and Ginny gave a quick look to Harry before hurrying to scoop up her nephew. "We were just getting to bed, love." She gave him a quick kiss on the head and hugged him close. "C'mon, let's go tuck you in. Say goodnight to your Uncle."

Harry gave Ginny a pleading sort of look while she fussed with her nephew but Ginny tried not to pay him any mind. The kids had to come first in her mind. Harry, on the other hand, could wait til she could scream openly at him to finish this conversation.

"G'night, Uncle Harry!" Damien said, still a little annoyed with them both for being awake.

"Good night, Damien." Harry said back with a sigh. "Ginny…" It was almost a beg for her to stay in the kitchen with him and finish what they'd started.

"Good night, Harry." She said with a sense of finality before disappearing into the dark hallway, Damien in tow, to get some sleep before Santa showed up.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author Note:** This story does NOT follow DH canon. It is the inbetweens of my two previous fics "Derailed" and "Adventures in Dress Shopping". This is pretty much canon through HBP and takes certain things from DH, however, I've put together different pairings and kept certain characters alive because I love them, and that's just how it is going to be. Reviews are more than welcome and I'd love constructive criticsim. I really hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I am not JKR. I do not own any of the characters. This story is merely my own interpretation of events based in the Universe that she created. Please don't sue.

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Ginny had made it through Christmas day without facing Harry again. There was a close call when she was cleaning up all the wrapping paper from the sitting room, but Tonks had walked in looking for a misplaced present before Harry could get more than three words out and Ginny used the distraction to sneak into the kitchen with her mum to help with dinner. The rest of the day she made sure to stick close to anyone else and she was the first one through the fireplace when it was time to leave.

Stepping out of the fireplace and into her living room was very much like escaping a crowded train onto an abandoned platform. The anxiety began to quell as she dusted off her pants and sweater. She felt more relaxed already, just being out of the Burrow and in her own space. Ginny let out a sigh; it was easier to breathe here. Simply knowing that there wasn't a chance of her being accosted by a sibling looking out for her well-being or cornered by her father telling her that she should at least give him a chance to make things right. Knowing they meant well didn't do much to make the conversations easier to have.

There were a few things she should've taken care of as soon as she got home. For instance, she'd returned with a bag full of presents that she needed to organize and write down what was from whom so she could send the appropriate thank you note. Unfortunately, she was so frazzled and overwhelmed right then that she could hardly see straight. They could stay shrunken for now and tucked in the corner until she could think straight enough to put them away. For the moment, she needed a glass of the cheap wine she kept on hand for emergencies and piece of the chocolate cake her mother had sent her home with. Those two things had gotten her through so much of this already and she was going to rely on them now to help her think the events of the previous night through.

In the short amount of time it took her to reach the kitchen the small amount of calm that had fallen over her upon entering her flat had faded. In its place, a small fire had ignited itself deep inside her. Fury was bubbling just under the surface, ready now to boil after being forced to simply simmer for the past twenty-four hours. Each and every thing that she had wanted to say to him—scream at him, was coming back to her thoughts, eating away at her as she flipped open the cabinet with a resounding WHAP! She couldn't figure out if she was angrier at him or at herself, though right in that moment it didn't seem like it mattered much.

The first wine glass broke in her hand before she even set it down on the counter, slicing through her pale skin with a dulled sting. She couldn't be sure if it was magic or force that had done it and while she was worried to let her magic get that out of control…again, she didn't exactly have the time to figure it out just then. She was cursing loudly, trying not to bleed everywhere as she grabbed the closest rag to cover her wound, searching franticly for her wand. Tonks had just bloody well given it back to her, how could she have misplaced it already? Rushing back into her sitting room, she spotted it on the table and made her way over to grab it to fix up her hand and clean up the kitchen. Just as she was reaching for it, Fred's head popped into the fireplace.

"Gin, you left a present here do you want me to…What's wrong with your ha—Are you ibleeding?/i" He demanded. "Hold on, I'm coming over."

"No! Fred! I'm not…" But she broke off when his head disappeared. In the next moment he was stepping through the fireplace, not bothering to dust himself off he walked over to her deliberately and grabbed her hand to take a look at it.

"Can't leave you alone for three minutes, can we?" He teased, looking a bit grossed out by the bloody towel she'd used to stop the bleeding.

"Fred. I'm fine. I broke a glass. Would you let me get it?" Ginny was clearly not amused by his antics and was just about ready to burst with anger as it was.

"Ginny, out of the pair of us, I think I know a bit more about fixing small wounds. Remember when we used to test products on ourselves?" With that, he tapped her wound with his wand and watched as the bleeding stopped. After a few more taps, the cuts closed and healed over a bit, though they still looked tender to the touch. "There, that should be alright, just be a little careful of it." Fred looked rather pleased with his work.

"Thank you." Ginny said, sounding more annoyed than grateful. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a long night of cheap wine and chocolate cake ahead of me. I'll see you tomorrow I need to head to Diagon and I'll stop by the shop."

"Nope, I'm staying." Fred said taking a seat on her favorite chair, stretching out with an exaggerated yawn. "Ange and I had a spat and I was going to have to sleep on the couch anyhow. Might as well make sure my baby sister doesn't go ahead and drink herself stupid. "Besides, it's about time you and me had some bonding time."

Leave it to Fred to infringe on her personal space. "Fred, I am not in the mood for bonding time. I just want to get pissed and not think about anything for the rest of the night." Ginny sighed, running her uninjured hand through her messy hair.

"Which is exactly why I ought to stay." Fred said simply. "Who better to distract you? And really, getting pissed on your own is a sign of alcoholism. This way you're not nearly as screwed up." He reasoned, making himself comfy in the armchair. "Now, how 'bout that wine, love?"

"One mention of Harry and I'm kicking you out if I have to body bind you and take you through the floo myself." Ginny warned with a pointed glare.

"Oi! Give me a spot more credit than that, Gin!" Fred argued. "I know you don't want to talk about it. I think you made that painfully obvious when you tried to walk to London from the Burrow last night. And then all today when you simply left the room anytime anyone tried to talk to you." He paused and remained quiet for a moment before picking up a frame holding a picture of the Weasley's at Bill's Wedding. "But you know…if I iwas/i going to say anything about it, I'd tell you that he really does mean that he's sorry about it all."

"So everyone is so keen on bloody well telling me." Ginny grumbled on her way back to the kitchen to grab the wine jug and two glasses. With a flick of her wand the blood and the glass on the floor and counter clean themselves up and she headed back out to the living room. "What did you all get together and decide that the pair of us simply ihad/i to make up because of how bloody well isorry/i he was? You know what? I'm sorry too. Sorry that you're all apparently suffering from amnesia of how I felt for the last two and a half years." She snapped pouring wine in the two glasses, handing one to her brother.

Fred sighed and set his glass down and looking straight at Ginny with a soft smile. "We don't have amnesia 'bout it Ginnikins. We just figure you wouldn't have been so bloody upset if you didn't care about him a whole lot. And seeing as he's back, for good this time," He paused as Ginny scoffed and rolled her eyes, "And seeing as he wants to make things right with you, we figure we ought to maybe help that happen." Ginny remained silent and folded her arms across her chest, looking intently at the coffee table. "You think we'd let him even near you if we didn't believe him? You think there was even a chance that he'd be at Christmas at the Burrow if we didn't think he was really trying? It hasn't been easy for him to come back, but he's still sticking around…"

"For now." Ginny said with a hint of bitterness in her voice. "Until he finds another reason to take off without a word to anyone. Until he gets claustrophobic again and needs to get away. Until who knows what the bloody hell happens because he keeps it all bottled up inside until he can't take it anymore and then he fecking snaps and treats everyone like shite for not understanding, but how the feck are we supposed to understand if he keeps it all bottled up?" With each statement she was growing more and more upset until she was so worked up she could feel angry tears stinging her eyes. She took a long sip from her wine glass and set it down on the end table to keep herself from breaking that one too. "I can't do it again, Fred." She murmured more to herself than to her brother.

"We just want you to be happy, Gin." Fred said giving her knee a gentle squeeze. "Oi, before I forget. Mum found this under the tree." He pulled a small box with a scroll of parchment taped to it. Her name was scrawled across the top of it in messy handwriting.

"Who's it from?" Ginny asked, mildly interested as she took the clumsily wrapped package from her brother. Fred simply shrugged and sat back on the chair, taking a sip of his wine. She unrolled the bit of parchment first and quickly read through the note there, frowning in confusion.

isGinny/s sGin/s sGinev-/s Ginny,

There's a good chance you're going to chuck this in the fire, but I just thought you should have it. Happy Christmas.

Try not to hate me forever. /i

She stared at the parchment for a long moment, debating whether or not to open the gift. Eventually, Fred leaned over and swiped it from her with an exasperated sigh.

"For Merlin's sake, Gin! You're killing me here!" He gave the paper a tear and revealed a small white box. He offered it back to her to let her do the honors but she shook her head and gave him a nod to go ahead. Shrugging, Fred lifted the lid and gave a look at what was inside. Purposefully he made a few interesting faces, shielding the contents from Ginny's view.

Ginny watched her brother out of the corner of her eye. Part of her didn't want to know what was in the box at all. If she didn't know what it was, she could pretend she'd never gotten it. Curiosity however was eating away at her…what was the saying about the blasted cat?

As if on cue, Ginny leaned over and snatched the box back from her brother to take a look for herself. Inside was a framed photograph that Ginny was all too familiar with. It was the same one that had had her in a helpless mess on the floor of her bedroom when she'd happened upon it cleaning one day. It was a muggle photo, taken by Colin, she was nearly positive, of the pair of them from her fifth year at Hogwarts. The photo was a candid shot, the both of them were laughing about something Ginny couldn't even remember. His arm was around her and her head was thrown back, eyes squeezed shut, wide grin pulling across her face. There were other people sitting with them. Ron and Hermione presumably, but they weren't quite in focus enough. Ginny remembered thinking when Colin had first given her the photo that it fit perfectly.

Gingerly, Ginny removed the frame from the box and stared at the photo for a long moment. And while she vividly remembered the breakdown that had ensued the last time she'd seen the still-life of sheer happiness, this time was different.

"Hmmm…now ithere's/i that Weasley smile we all fell in love with." Fred said softly, quite pleased with himself that he'd managed it out of her. And Bill had been so doubtful! Ha!

"What?" Ginny asked coming out of her daze and quickly setting the picture back down. She shook her head for a moment as though she were clearing it and gave a tiny sigh.

"That's what I thought." Fred was grinning proudly now. "See, Gin? I was right. By the by, you mind telling Ange that? She seems to think I never am and well, I'd like to mark it on the calendar and everything." He was teasing now of course, but he felt a teensy bit entitled.

"Who said you were right?" Ginny asked with a raised eyebrow. "Smiling, and I'm not convinced that's what I was doing, does not mean that I forgive him. It doesn't mean anything!"

"Well you see, you iwere/i smiling, don't even bother trying to argue, you'll lose. And it does mean something. It means that you're not as indifferent to him as you claim to be. Sure you're still ready to throttle him for being the World's Biggest Prat, which we were all sad to see Percy lose that title, you know, but somewhere. Deep down. Very deep down judging by the look you're giving me now, you still care about him. And that means that you ought to at least give him another chance. Could you imagine if Ange didn't give me a second chance? Or the fifty-ninth one she's bound to give me when I get home?" Fred took another drink from his wine glass, emptying the goblet and placing it back on the table. "At least he's going and admitting he was wrong. Unlike a certain brother of ours…who I believe gets his title back now that Potter's shown back up and apologized like."

"They can share the title. It's a tie." Ginny said simply. "And Ange gives you loads of other chances because you never muck things up itoo/i terribly. Just bad enough to make her want to hex you a bit. What Harry did…well I wanted to do more than just hex him a bit."

"Oh believe me, Gin. Your brother has had his fair share of mistakes along the way." Fred said with a laugh. "Finish your wine, have a sleep on it, and then decide in the morning. But I'm telling you, you missed Harry for how long? Now you're going to pass up the chance to have him back in your life again? That just doesn't make a lick of sense." He stood up and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I hate it when you use actual logic. Throws off my entire view of the world, you git. Bill is supposed to be the sensible one, remember? You are supposed to help me come up with outlandish ways to cause him bodily harm." Ginny grumbled, holding her hands out for Fred to help her up. Fred gave her a tug, pulling her into a tight hug.

"I like to keep you on your toes. Can't let myself become predictable now can I" He chuckled. "Now let's get me some blankets for the couch and tuck you into bed. I expect waffles in the morning for breakfast you know. And you'd better have a good supply of syrup. All this brotherly advice doesn't come for free you know."

Ginny simply rolled her eyes and gave her brother a peck on the cheek. "You will get what I make and you will like it." Ginny teased as she grabbed the wine glasses and headed towards the kitchen. "Blankets and pillows are in the hall closet. And you'd better owl and apology to Ange in the morning." She called over her shoulder.

"Oi! I didn't tell you what we rowed over. How do you know I owe the apology?" Fred asked sounding indignant.

"Because she's always right, Fred. I thought we've already covered this." His sister reasoned with a smirk.

"I hate you all." Fred mumbled as he opened the hall closet to grab down some blankets.

"Love you too, Fred. G'night." Ginny called in a sing-song voice as she made her way to the bedroom.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author Note:** This story does NOT follow DH canon. It is the inbetweens of my two previous fics "Derailed" and "Adventures in Dress Shopping". This is pretty much canon through HBP and takes certain things from DH, however, I've put together different pairings and kept certain characters alive because I love them, and that's just how it is going to be. Reviews are more than welcome and I'd love constructive criticsim. I really hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I am not JKR. I do not own any of the characters. This story is merely my own interpretation of events based in the Universe that she created. Please don't sue.

*******************************

The following week Quidditch practices had picked back up and Ginny was trying her best to keep her head focused on the game. It used to be that no matter what was troubling her, she could forget it on a broom. In the air with only one job to do, it was easy to concentrate hard enough to let everything else slip away. It used to be that simply keeping her mind set on staying on her broom drove everything else from her mind. Apparently, that wasn't the case with this particular problem.

"OW! Sonova…" Ginny cursed, pitching forward and just managing to keep a hold on her broom as a bludger clipped her shoulder rather brutally.

"Weasley! Focus on staying in one piece, would you?" She could hear Gwenog scream from somewhere above her. "That snitch is not going to find itself! Let's go!"

"Sorry, Gwen." Ginny mumbled, giving her shoulder a few shrugs to make sure it was still all together correctly like. She'd likely have a nasty welt there by the time practice was over, but it was her own bleeding fault for letting herself get distracted by stupid shite. She gave her head a small shake and took a deep breath. Quidditch. The Golden Snitch. Staying alive. That was far more immediate at the moment. Everything else, including the list of pros and cons she was currently constructing in her mind, would simply have to wait.

The rest of the practice wasn't much better. She was hit three more times, one of which she was sure had shattered her ankle, but thankfully hadn't. It was going to be an ice bath for her when she got home. She'd only caught the snitch three out of five times of it being released. Not quite her best record ever.

"Weasley, you're mine still. Rest of you go shower." Gwenog's terse voice cut through the bit of chatter that had started up as everyone was landing. The older woman was not wearing her happy face and the team sort of gave a wary look over at Ginny.

Ginny groaned inwardly, wanting to be anywhere but talking to her captain about her shite practice. While everyone else filed into the locker rooms, Ginny hung back, looking anywhere but at the disappointed face of Gwenog Jones. She really hated hearing Gwen go on about things that Ginny knew better than to have to hear about. She knew that she was having a wretched day for Quidditch and she knew there was no excuse to bring anything but her best to the pitch. That had been made clear in her first week with the team.

"What's the problem, Weasley? Where was your head today? Clearly not on the pitch. Not with your team. Not where it bloody well belongs from the moment you step into the locker room to get ready for practice til you are collapsing on your bed. So are you going to tell me some sob story as an excuse for only catching the snitch twice?" Ginny opened her mouth to protest but Gwenog gave her a sharp look to cut her off before she started. "That last one was a graceful accident, not a capture. You got lucky. I can't bring Luck to a match and expect that to win it for me alone. It takes more than just luck."

"I'm sorry Gwen. I…I should've been here and not off where I was. There is no excuse. I was out of line today and hopefully those bruises you gave me with the bludgers every other minute will serve as a kind reminder of that." The last bit was vaguely sarcastic, but Gwen didn't seem to notice and if she did, she didn't care.

"I was thinking of starting you again for the next match in two weeks but if this is how you're going to behave on the pitch, I'm going to have to put in Ardsley. She's being having a decent run and she was all there today." Gwen folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow.

"Start? Gwenog, I can do it. I swear it. It's just been a rough few days for me and I know that's wretched and not an excuse, but I can do better. I iwill/i do better." Ginny was practically pleading with her captain. She couldn't afford to go back to second string. She'd just quit her job at the Leakey a little while ago and without starting she'd be out of her flat in a month.

"I know you can do it. You've done brilliantly since I made you a starter, but I've never seen you as unfocused as tonight and frankly, that sort of attitude is not what wins matches." Gwen pointed out with a sigh.

"Gwenog, you've never seen me out of sorts at practice, so what does that tell you? That this isn't me. I'll do better. I will. I can and I will. You'll see." Ginny was defending her spot as vigilantly as she could without giving a sob story to her captain. Gwen didn't care about personal problems the way some captains did. She just wanted her players ready for practice on the pitch. She didn't need to know any more or less than absolutely necessary for one to play their best.

"You show me next practice that your head is firmly placed on your shoulders and not off in Merlin knows where thinking about Helga knows what and you'll keep your starter post. You so much as slip on your broom, Ardsley will be starting against the Magpies." Ginny knew there was no room for argument in Gwenog's voice so she didn't even try. She simply nodded curtly.

"Yes, boss." Ginny said, holding off on the salute she usually gave when the team was teasing Gwenog for being their general rather than their captain.

"Hit the showers, and make sure you ice that shoulder. And sort out whatever bloody issue you're dealing with." Gwenog all but sighed before grabbing her broom and shooting back up into the air. Ginny would've been mildly hurt by the abrupt ending of the conversation, but it was typical for the Harpies Captain to take off into the air like that when she was finished discussing a matter. And so instead of thinking twice on it, Ginny just made her way back to the locker room to get changed and showered before she could head home.

"Oi, Gin! We're going to the pub. C'mon and hurry up getting changed. Vanessa wants to get there for the band and all." A blonde named Therese called out to her as she opened her locker and grabbed her things to take a quick shower.

"I'm passing on the pub tonight. I'm ten shades of sore and there's bound to be one of the family lurking 'round the flat like there has been just about every night for the past week and a half now." Ginny said with a grimace.

"Piss it. C'mon you look like you could use a pint or six. Besides, who else is going to trick the old fool into giving us a few free rounds?"

"You lot are going to turn me into a raging alcoholic at this rate. I need to pass. And anyhow, Sandy can manage a few rounds from Phil. He's got an eye for short brunettes." Ginny teased as she wrapped a towel around herself and headed towards the stalls.

"He's got a better eye for mouthy redheads!" Sandy called out with a laugh.

"Haven't you heard, Sandy? Gin's not mouthy, she's just right." Sasha chimed in.

"Bloody right about that!" Ginny responded before giving a small shriek as cold water hit her from the faucet. "You lot go ahead. I'm not getting pissed with you all if you're going to just use me for my girlish charms."

From the rest of the team she could hear grumbles calling her a spoil sport and that if she changed her mind she could find them at the pub and she'd better come in some sort of smashing outfit that would just drive Phil into the poorhouse with all the liquor they were planning on scamming from him. Ginny could only respond with a laugh and she heard the various pops as they all apparated from the locker room.

It only took her a few minutes to get dressed and set and gather all her things together. Once she was sure she had everything she apparated back to the ally beside her building where she knew it was out of sight enough to not be seen by any Muggles. Despite the crime rate dropping significantly since the war, Ginny had kept up with the anit-apparation wards around her flat. She didn't need anyone in and out as they pleased and it made it that much more safe.

She took out her keys from the knapsack thrown over her shoulder and headed towards the front of the building. It was bitterly cold out and she'd left her coat inside, not needing it on the pitch and not expecting it to be this bloody cold out by the time she'd left. She wrapped her arms around herself and gave a shudder as she fumbled to get the key in the lock. She cursed under her breath when the key got jammed and she was dancing back and forth on her feet trying to keep warm. "Oh for the love of…" She wiggled the key out and tried again, wishing she didn't live in such a bloody muggle populated neighborhood so she could just use her stupid wand and be done with it.

She felt something warm cover her shoulders and back and she stiffened as she turned to see what it was.

"Hurry up and get the door open so we can properly be inside before you scream at me." Harry said rubbing his hands together.

"Mother of Merlin you nearly gave me a bloody heart attack." She breathed, holding a hand to her chest. It took a moment for his words to sink in. "You are not coming inside." Ginny said as she twisted the key, hearing the latch open finally. She gave the door a shove with her shoulder out of habit and wince in pain. "Ow." Well that was daft of her.

"Here, let me do it." Harry said, gently moving her aside before giving the door a good shove. "And yes I am because I know that you have loads that you want to scream at me for and well, it is bloody cold out here." He held the door open for her and gestured her inside. "How's your shoulder?" He asked as he followed her inside and locked the door behind himself.

"Harry! You are not coming up to my flat!" Ginny repeated, ignoring his question. She shed his cloak from her shoulders and held it out for him. "You are going to go home or to Ron's or wherever the hell it is you're staying and you're going to leave me alone!" She protested.

"No, Gin. We are going to have this out. You said that we weren't done when we were at the Burrow and that it wouldn't be done until you could properly scream at me, so here, we're at your flat and you can scream all you bloody well please. Because I need this conversation to be over so that you can give me a chance to be forgiven. Because I miss you, even when you're looking at me like you're about to hex my bits off…like right now for instance." He gave a hopeful smile and started towards the stairs.

"Harry," Ginny started with an exasperated sigh.

"Look, I meant what I said at your parents' house and I'm not just going to leave. I think I've done quite enough of that, thanks. I just want to make things right with you and if that means getting a teacup thrown at my head, or getting screamed at for a stint then I guess that's what it's going to take." He let out a sigh. He looked almost pitiable standing there with his ever-messy jet-black hair, gazing at her with his too green eyes. What in hell was she supposed to say to that?

"Hermione made you come here didn't she?" Ginny asked after a long moment of staring at him. She folded her arms across her chest and gave Harry a look which demanded the truth.

He shifted on his feet almost uncomfortably and then glanced down at his shoes. "Wouldn't lay off until I promised to make it right with you." Harry admitted after a beat. "But that's not entirely why I'm here. I mean, Hermione isn't the reason I'm here. I'm here because I was the worst kind of a sod and I ought to hex myself stupid for what I did to you. I just need to know that you don't hate me…or at least won't hate me forever. Cause I don't think I could take knowing that."

Ginny gave a short sarcastic laugh and then started up the stairs, shaking her head as she went. She mumbling something to herself but Harry couldn't make out what she was saying. Hesitating for only a brief moment he followed her up to her door, trying to get her to say something, anything to him as he went.

"You're not coming in here." Ginny finally said as once again she was fumbling with her key ring. "I am going to have a nice long chat with Hermione and Teddy and then I am going to bed. You are going to leave." Ginny said, already planning out the conversation she would be having with her best friend.

"Ginny, please." Harry pleaded stepping closer to her and placing a hand on hers to stop her from opening the door just yet. "Please just talk to me. I need to know how to make this right. And not just because of Hermione. And not just because your brothers told you to give me a ruddy chance. And not because you're also a God-parent to Tonks and Remus's baby girl. But because I need you there to give me a proper smack upside the head when I'm being a prat. Because without you around, I'll never know when I'm acting like a daft fool. Because I…" He broke off just before the last bit was able to get out, not sure if he was prepared for the consequences of that slip.

Ginny was quiet for a long moment and pulled her hand away from his, stepping back from the door. She lifted her hand to shield her eyes from him and took a deep breath. "What do you want me to say, Harry?" She asked, letting her hand drop. Her eyes were puffy and red and her voice gave a small crack. "You want me to forget about how I've felt for the past two years? You want me to just pretend like it all never happened and be so bloody well happy that you're back? I'm sorry that I can't do that. I'm sorry that I'm not as understanding as Remus, or as forgiving as Hermione or as bloody well ready to accept you back as the rest of my family, but that's just how I am. I'm not someone who can just trust you because you tell me to. I'm not someone who can just…Gods, Harry…I loved you. iLoved/i you so much that it physically hurt me to think about you for a long, long time." Her voice was raising and she knew she should keep it down before the neighbors started in on her disturbing the peace or whatever it was they were going to complain about this week, but she couldn't help it. "The first time you left I thought it couldn't get much worse than that. Much worse than you, the boy I loved, going off to risk his life to save us all. But then you came back and even though I knew-I iknew/i-you weren't about to give that up just yet, I couldn't see why we couldn't have both." She paused as she took another deep breath trying to keep herself from crying in front of him. "Well it turns out you were bloody right. Because then you left iagain/i. And everything shattered. And I'm done. I'm done trusting and opening myself up like that. I'm done hurt. I'm done." Buggering hell. She wiped quickly at her face and pushed him away from the door as she struggled for a moment to get it open. "I have to…" she hardly got the words out before the door was open and she'd slipped inside.

But Harry would be damned if he was going to let this end there. He stuck his foot in the doorjamb before she had the chance to lock him out. He needed her to see that he was different now. That it would all be different now. That the war was over and he wasn't at the center of it all anymore. It was a new life, for both of them. Or at least, it could be.

"Ginny. You're not getting rid of me that easily." He said, following her into the living room and grabbing her arm just to turn her around to face him. "I'm not leaving you again."

Ginny held his gaze for just a moment before she let her eyes drop to the floor, pulling her arm back from him slowly. She swallowed hard and chanced a glance back up at him. "How can I believe you, Harry?" She asked softly.

"Tell me what to do to prove it to you." Harry all but whispered in reply, stepping closer to her.

"You'll have to figure that one out on your own." Ginny said, turning away from him.

"Not going to make it easy for me, are you?" Harry very nearly smiled at this, as if life were playing some huge practical joke on him.

"If I made it easy, you wouldn't have earned it." She reminded him, still not facing him. "Now, please just leave. Please." She turned back to him, glassy brown eyes wide and begging.

"I'll be back." He assured her. "I will." He stepped closer and gave her arm a small squeeze. "Tomorrow."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author Note:** This story does NOT follow DH canon. It is the inbetweens of my two previous fics "Derailed" and "Adventures in Dress Shopping". This is pretty much canon through HBP and takes certain things from DH, however, I've put together different pairings and kept certain characters alive because I love them, and that's just how it is going to be. Reviews are more than welcome and I'd love constructive criticsim. I really hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I am not JKR. I do not own any of the characters. This story is merely my own interpretation of events based in the Universe that she created. Please don't sue.

*******************************

Ginny wasn't about to give Harry the chance to come back to her flat. She needed answers of her own before she could be expected to give him any. Despite being all sorts of sore and bruised, she dragged herself from her too warm bed and got ready for her mission. She made sure she was presentable appearance-wise as she was sure her behavior was going to be less than flattering. That wasn't exactly on her list of concerns however. She was rightly ticked off and she was set on speaking her mind about it.

She hesitated slightly near the fireplace before deciding manners be damned. It wasn't likely she'd be waking anyone up after all. Grabbing a handful of floo powder, she tossed it into the fire and clearly spoke the name of an address she was all too familiar with.

"Hermione Jean Granger!" She called out into the modestly large house that was perfect in the way only Hermione and Theodore could manage. Ginny dusted herself off before stepping into the pristine living room. "I know you're in here!"

"Ginny, might I ask what, in Salazar's name, you're screaming about this early in the morning?" Teddy asked as he walked in from the hall. He was still in his jim-jams and was trying in vain to disguise this fact by keeping his arms folded to his chest. However, in true Teddy fashion, his initial tone gave little of his actual annoyance level away.

"I have plenty to discuss with you as well Theodore. Don't leave." Ginny grumbled, perfectly aware of how absurd she sounded, but not quite caring enough.

"Excuse me?" Teddy asked in shock. "You know this is my house, right? You haven't confused it with somewhere else where it might be alright to boss me around?" His annoyance was beginning to seep through, but mostly he was just curious as to what had gotten her in such a strop so early in the day.

"When you travel halfway around the world to find my ex and bring him back without bothering to inform me about it, I think I am well within reason to be a bit peeved, Teddy." Ginny shot at him with a certain edge to her voice.

"What is going on in here?" Hermione called over the raised voices. The brunette walked into the tense room holding the collar of her dressing gown shut tightly. "Ginny? What are you doing here this early? I don't remember breakfast plans."

"Do you remember telling Harry that he ought to stalk the outside of my flat til I got home and corner me into a conversation?" The redhead asked bitterly.

Hermione pursed her lips and rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Please tell me that is not the only reason you're here, because I'm not going to apologize for it. The pair of you ought to talk."

"Oh, don't worry love, she's got plenty she's got to yell at me about too, apparently." Teddy piped in not looking at his girlfriend, but instead all but glaring at the redhead across the room.

"Because your girlfriend wouldn't have been able to force me into this if you had left well enough alone and let him stay unfound." Ginny snaped.

"Ginny, would you quit acting like you were the only one hurt by him leaving?!" Teddy threw his hands in exasperation. His jim-jams seemingly forgotten. "We all know you we miserable and we all know you don't want to bloody talk about it but you know I didn't go on searching half the globe just for you." Teddy was shouting now.

"Teddy..." Hermione started, warning in her voice.

"No. Let him go. Let him go ahead and call me self-centered and selfish and childish and whatever other bloody else he wants to call me." Ginny snapped, giving a tight-lipped sarcastic smile. "Because I mean he's right isn't he?"

"Ginny, I didn't say that." Hermione sighed. "I just think it's silly that you spent the better part of the past two years being miserable without him and now that he's here you're acting like you were better off."

"Because I was finally starting to be able to handle it! I was finally moving on with my life! I was finally getting Bet--"

"Better?" Teddy asked with raised eyebrows. "Getting better?" The former Slytherin gave a dry laugh.

"Teddy, don't." Hermione interjected.

Teddy didn't listen though. He couldn't just sit there and listen to her go on about how she was the not-so-silent victim in all of this.

"Better would not include a string of second-rate blokes you don't give a second thought to after you find one small thing that drives you batty."

"Teddy..." Hermione tried again, but to no avail.

"Better would not be you trying to escape any mention of the words Harry, dating, wedding, boyfriend, or Potter."

"Teddy!"

"Better is not you hiding tears at Remus and Dora's anniversary party. Yes, I saw you, don't try to deny it."

Ginny stood there, jaw clenched and back stiff as he listed off everything that was still so off about her with ease. Too much ease. She hated knowing that not only was he right, but that she had been that transparent. She would've liked to think she was a bit more sturdy than to show all that.

"Teddy, you shouldn't have said all of that." Hermione said quietly, somewhere between annoyed at him for being so frank, and adoring him for being that perceptive of her friends.

"She can't go on thinking that she was solving a problem." Teddy whispered back. "She needed to know." There was only the tiniest twinge of regret in his voice as he caught sight of Ginny's face.

"I can hear you, you know." Ginny informed them with a sigh.

Hermione gave a small blush and looked down for a brief moment before meeting her friend's eyes. "Well...He does have a point, Gin." She said after a moment. "We're worried about you. And Harry." She added after only a second. "It's clear that you're both miserable without each other and - just can't sit here watching the both of you throw it away like that. It would be irresponsible of me." Hermione was being careful not to let her or Teddy get a word in edgewise until she was good and ready for them. "We just want you to be happy. Both of you."

Teddy remained silent and simply looked at his girl with a sort of amazed smile. It was the same smile that he found himself wearing all the more often. He still found it hard to believe that she picked him. He wasn't sure he'd ever really understand it.

Ginny watched the pair of them and held in a sigh. She just wasn't so sure that kind of perfection was in the stars for her anymore.

"So maybe I'm not better. And maybe I'll never be better, but this isn't something I can just get over." She ran a hand through her thick waves. "I can listen to everyone tell me he's sorry and that this time he's here for good, and maybe he is. Maybe in his mind this is it. But what if it turns out he's wrong? Am I supposed to go through this all again? Because I can't." Her voice dropped and her fingers began twirling the ends of her hair. "I can't." She repeated. "I could hardly do it this time and that was with hoping the pain would subside. What'll I do when I know it won't?" She looked between the pair, searching for an answer but not expecting one.

"Since when," Hermione started with a small smile, "Have you ever given up on a challenge? Since when do you let your fear of falling off the broom keep you from flying?" She questioned, moving her hand to her hip. "Ginny, you are a Gryffindor and among the bravest people I know, you can handle this." Hermione assured her.

Teddy leaned down to drop a kiss on his girlfriend's head. "You are absolutely amazing, did you know that?" He murmured quietly.

Ginny stood there scowling and she let out another sigh. "You have to go bringing ithat/i into it, don't you?" She asked tossing her hands up in defeat.

"Well now you're just mad because she's right." Teddy grinned.

"Annoying, isn't she?" Ginny asked in concession, though rolling her eyes.

"Hey!" Hermione exclaimed offended, she placed a hand on her hip.

"Well it's just not fair you should prove me wrong so bloody often!" Ginny protested rather convincingly, though she was mostly just teasing.

Teddy dropped another kiss on her head and smiled. "That's okay. Right looks aces on her."

"Look, Ginny." Hermione started breaking away from Teddy to go give her friend a small hug. "No one expects you to jump head first back into a relationship with him or anything of the sort. We just want you both to maybe talk a bit. Get to the point where you don't feel the need to flee your parents' house on Christmas just because he happens to be there." The brunette gave a knowing smile to her friend and gave her another small squeeze.

"You spoil all the fun of hexing him, you know that right? With your sensibility and your reason and your logic. Really. It's not bloody fair, I'm telling you." Ginny grumbled teasingly. She was beginning to feel extremely daft for showing up and shouting at the pair of them and she was quite bitter about that. Part of the point of being irrationally angry was being able to forget about feeling guilty and just let off. But now she was feeling silly and guilty and all sorts of stupid. Bollocks. "Does this mean I hafta go back to my flat and face this head on like a big girl then? Because I'd really rather just you know, sit here, have some of your breakfast and hide out for a bit."

"Ginny, you know we love you and all, but I think barging in and telling us off is enough for one day. Go home and you really ought to talk to Harry." Teddy gave a small smile with a roll of his eyes.

Ginny groaned and made a face to show that she was not pleased. "Ugh! Fine! Bossy things aren't you." She gave a smirk to show she was teasing. "And erm…sorry about the yelling…and the barging in. And you know the being mental." She added after a moment.

"We've come to expect it from you by now." Hermione teased right back, giving her friend one last goodbye hug. "Now go. And then come back later and tell me everything."

"Bye then." Ginny said with a wave to Teddy before grabbing a pinch of floo powder and tossing it into the fire. She called out her flat address and stepped into the cool flames. When she arrived back in her own living room however, she didn't stick around for long. She gave a moment's thought and then headed for the door and down the stairs, needing to get out into the cool London air to get some thinking done.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author Note:** This story does NOT follow DH canon. It is the inbetweens of my two previous fics "Derailed" and "Adventures in Dress Shopping". This is pretty much canon through HBP and takes certain things from DH, however, I've put together different pairings and kept certain characters alive because I love them, and that's just how it is going to be. Reviews are more than welcome and I'd love constructive criticsim. I really hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I am not JKR. I do not own any of the characters. This story is merely my own interpretation of events based in the Universe that she created. Please don't sue.

*******************************

It had been two weeks since her visit to the Nott-Granger home and Ginny had made little headway in her own mind about Harry. Not that he'd been lax in his efforts to show her just how far he was willing to go to win her over. There had been a note the first day when she got back from her walk (which had turned into a lunch and then a shopping outing which lead then to meeting Katie Bell for dinner and drinks) saying that he'd been there and waited for a good long while on her front step before someone came by and essentially forced him off the stoop with the threat of the local police. Ever since then, there hadn't been a day where she didn't find isomething/i from him either around her flat or waiting on her doorstep. She never knew where she was going to find the next note or bouquet or picture or funny card from a muggle shop. Every day was something different and she found herself increasingly looking forward to how she was going to find her next surprise. Of course, as soon as she realized the smile on her face she scolded herself for getting excited over it. After all, wasn't she supposed to be keeping her guard up? Wasn't she determined not to let him in too soon? On the other hand, he was getting bloody creative with his delivery and it was interesting to see none the less.

Today, it came by way of an old friend.

Ginny was making herself eggs in a basket for breakfast and dancing around the kitchen to a rather obnoxiously loud wireless. It was moments like these that made her praise whatever powers that might be for silencing charms so her neighbors didn't complain. However, it was the loud music that made her nearly miss the tapping on the window. If it weren't for the fact that a snowy white owl in the middle of London flapping its wings about trying to get into a flat was entirely too conspicuous to be ignored, Ginny may have missed it. Running over to let the poor creature in, Ginny's eggs lay forgotten.

"Hedwig!" She exclaimed as the beautiful bird glided into the living room and took a perch on the back of the couch. The creature stuck her leg out to reveal a short bit of parchment tied with Ginny's name scrawled in all too familiar handwriting on the outside. Ginny hurried to untie it, giving Hedwig a soft stroke as she did so. Hedwig hooted low in appreciation and gave an affectionate nip at Ginny's hand. "I've missed you too." Ginny murmured to Hedwig as she un-scrolled the bit of parchment. "Why isn't it you came to visit me more, hmm?" Ginny was talking mostly to herself as her eyes began to scan the words scribbled messily across the page.

iGinny,

Meet me at/i Sandy D'si a muggle restaurant in Hyde Park on the corner near the church. 7 o'clock for dinner. Please.

-Harry/i

She wrinkled her nose and gave a look to the owl for a bit of sympathy. "What's he gotta go and do that for anyhow?" She asked, holding out her arm for the bird to perch. She had a decent sized jumper on and so she wouldn't be hurt by it. She walked the bird into the kitchen and set her down on the back of the chair as she reached up to grab her a bit of toast off the counter. "That's for you, and don't go telling him that I'm spoiling you because he'll be peeved at me like the last time." Hedwig hooted affectionately and took the bread. "Alright, well you'd better get on then. I'm not giving him a note back. Make him sweat it out a bit. 'Cause I'm mean. And apparently barmy as I'm talking to a bird…" She sighed and shook her head. "Here one more before you go then?" She tossed another piece of bread towards the owl that took it and then flew towards the window with a beautiful amount of grace. Ginny shut it closed behind her and walked back to the kitchen, collapsing in a chair with a great big sigh. "Brilliant. He'd better not be expecting me gussied up."

Seven o'clock came entirely too early for the redhead. It had taken her three trips up the block to find the blasted restaurant in the first place and only then she had to ask someone for help because she was getting nervous about being late. She was wearing a pair of muggle jeans Hermione and Tonks had gone shopping with her to get and a nice jumper she'd gotten as a Christmas present from one of the girls on the team. It was quite bitter outside so she had her heavy winter cloak on over that which made her stand out a bit more than she usually did, but damn she was warm. Wild red hair was pulled back out of her face and fastened with a clip that had a gripping charm on it so it didn't fall out like it was want to do.

When she finally got to Sandy D's, she was glad to notice it was a casual sort of place so she didn't feel out of sorts in her comfy clothes. It was a few minutes past seven and so she gave a look around for Harry, knowing full well that even if he was trying to blend in, he'd stick out with his messy black hair and those green eyes of his. She was craning her neck to find him when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.

"You're late." Harry said with a smile as she turned around to look at him.

"If you'd bothered with directions instead of that vague description of where it was I might've been on time." She quipped back, a smile threatened to tug at the corners of her mouth, but she fought the urge and simply gave him a defiant look. She had told herself she wasn't going to get like this so easily again, but a lot of shagging good that was doing her. He was trying so bloody hard and even she had to admit that she was impressed by his efforts.

"My description was brilliant. You just don't know how to look." He teased, offering to take her cloak before walking her to their table which was in the back corner away from the most of the busy chatter in the front.

"So then," She started as she slid into her side of the cozy booth. "What's all this about?" She asked, deliberately looking anywhere but at him directly. She fingered the edge of the menu absentmindedly.

"Oh come on, Gin. You know what this about." He said, reaching for her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I need to know if you've forgiven me for being the World's biggest wanker so I know just how many more times I'm going to have to get Ron, Hermione, George and Charlie to sneak into your flat to hide things for me." He was actually quite pleased with himself for how well he'd managed it. He didn't know her schedule half as well as 'Mione did and she was either able to slip in herself and give the others a head's up as to when would be a good time. Aside from arranging the drop though, Harry had been in charge of everything else. What was to go in, where it was to be placed and everything else that went along with it. They hadn't spoken since the night he'd waited outside her flat, but he wasn't sure any more talking at that point was going to do either of them any good. They'd gotten most of it out. It was time to show her that he was sorry. That he hadn't stopped thinking about her even for a moment while he was gone. That's what he had to prove now.

"Oh, so ithat's/i whose been breaking into my flat then? I'll know who to sic the Aurors on then." Ginny snipped back with a raised eyebrow. She didn't retract her hand though. It was of course a baby step, but that's how she was going to play this. It was how she had to play this. "I'd been wondering how you'd been getting in and out." She mused after a moment. "Think you're right clever don't you?"

Harry gave a shrug and a less than modest smile. "You just said yourself you couldn't figure it out. That has to count for something seeing how clever you are and all."

"Oh and the flattery begins!" Ginny gave a dry laugh, now taking her hand back to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Tell me, Mr. Potter, do you intend to win my forgiveness or my heart?" she teased.

"Both if I can manage." Harry answered truthfully. The smile was still evident on his face, though he turned slightly more serious as he spoke the words.

For her part, Ginny sat a bit stunned. That hadn't been the answer she was expecting in the least. She was sure she'd forgive him for acting the part of a complete and utter prat, and they'd work their way back towards friendship on those grounds. This…well this wasn't something she'd entirely anticipated.

"Ginny, I thought of you every day that I was gone. I thought about what you'd be doing, who you'd be with, if you would've moved on and forgotten all about me like you probably should've, if you'd yet realized that I was never any good for you. I thought about what I'd say if or when I ever saw you again. And let me tell you, ithat/i hasn't exactly gone according to plan. Which I blame entirely on you, mind." He paused and sighed.

"I reckon you had a lot of time for thinking." Ginny said with a glance away from him. "And how is it my fault anyhow?"

"'Cause you…You make it very hard to keep my thoughts even. 'Specially when you're sitting there all pouty and brooding." Harry said, still smiling at her. "So would you mind stopping that? I mean, don't get me wrong, you're right adorable when you do it, but it's sort of got me stuck by way of apologizing, which is what I'm supposed to be doing and all."

Ginny didn't mean to, but she laughed at that, showing a hint of a real smile.

"Well bugger all. That's clearly not going to do me any good either. Not if you're going to be ismiling/i like." Harry grinned, almost triumphantly. "Much too pretty when you smile."

"I wasn't smiling." Ginny said, trying to keep her face as even as she could.

"Well, then I'm in a heap of trouble for when you do, aren't I?" Harry asked, still grinning at her. It was becoming increasingly unclear how he let himself stay away from her for so long.

"You're in a heap of trouble no matter what." Ginny reminded him just as the waitress approached the table.

"'Ello there! Welcome to Sandy D's! My name is Tonya and I'll be your server tonight. Can I get you something to drink?" The blonde asked in an overly chipper voice, looking directly at Harry as she spoke. She gave a small flip of her hair and flashed him a toothy smile.

"Erm, water is just fine for me, thanks." Ginny said loudly, annoyance creeping into her voice.

"And for you, luv?" Tonya asked, not even giving a glance towards Ginny.

"Water is great. Thank you, Tonya. And if you could bring out a soda with the meal, I'd appreciate it." Harry said smoothly, giving the waitress a friendly smile.

"Of course! Are you ready to place your order now?" She gave another flip of her hair.

"No. We're not." Ginny snipped shortly, giving a roll of her eyes. Who in Godric's name did this cow think she was? Couldn't she see that they were clearly together? Okay, so they weren't itogether/i like that, but how in the hell did ishe/i know that. They very well could've been and she was being entirely shameless. And ihe/i was practically encouraging it!

"I'll be back then." Tonya said turning to leave. But not before she gave one more glance over to Harry.

Ginny glared in her direction and muttered under her breath as she picked up her menu to take a look. "Shameless harpy."

Harry gave a confused look. "What was that?" He asked, picking up his own menu.

"Nothing." Ginny sighed, turning the page.

"She's just being nice. Probably works for tips and the like." Harry justified with a half a laugh.

"Mmmhmm. Whatever you say." She was suddenly very interested in the salads being offered that night.

"Ginny, she was just—"

"Batting her eyelashes and flipping her hair more than Lavender Brown would consider appropriate, and that's bloody well saying something the way she parades around." She sighed and put down her menu, looking at him with pursed lips. "But you probably didn't notice through your drooling."

"You're imagining things now. I was just being polite is all." For his part, Harry was completely baffled. She was blowing this all way out of proportion. The poor girl was just trying to get a good tip out of him. And he was just being nice. That was all. She was seeing things. Hit in the head with one too many bludgers or something.

"Oh, am I?" Ginny challenged. "Imagining things? We'll see about that." Ginny said picking her menu back up.

"And how will we do that?" He asked, setting his own menu down and folding his hands on the table.

"You'll see. It'll be some sort of painfully obvious gesture. Honestly, she's got no tact at all." Ginny replied with a dismissive sigh. "I think I'll have the chicken, what do you think?"

"I think you've lost it." Harry mumbled. "Chicken looks good." It was his turn to shake his head.

"I heard that." Ginny muttered back. "And if you're so sure I've lost it, why don't you open your bloody eyes and pay attention this time. She's coming over."

Sure enough the blonde waitress was making her way back over with two glasses of water and that smile plastered on her face. "'Ere y'go." She said brightly setting the water down in front of each of them, but keeping her blue eyes on Harry. "All set then?"

"Yes, I think so." Ginny said, smiling smugly at Harry. "Are you rea—"

"What can I get for you, dear?" Tonya asked Harry, cutting Ginny off entirely. Instead of getting mad however, the redhead simply looked even more smug, if that was possible. She gave a triumphant smile to Harry who still looked rather oblivious to the whole thing.

"We'll both take the chicken, thank you." Harry said politely.

"Brilliant, then. I'll have that out in a mo—"

"Actually," Ginny interrupted. "I think I'll just have a burger come to think of it." She gave a sugary smile.

"Right." Was all Tonya said before grabbing the menus and turning to leave, once more glancing back at Harry.

Ginny gave a dry laugh as the blonde walked away and shook her head as she picked up her water to take a sip.

"Oh, what now?" Harry asked with a laugh. "She was just doing her job!"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. But I will put a bit of gold on her bringing me out the chicken."

Harry rolled his eyes and took a sip of his water. "Y'know, Gin, jealous really isn't a good colour on you." He teased with a grin.

"Me? Jealous?" Ginny scoffed. "Jealous of which exactly, the fact that I don't have to stoop to such levels to get anyone's attention, or the fact that iyou/i asked ime/i here to apologize for being a wanker. Which, might I add, is going ibrilliantly/i for you."

"Alright, alright." Harry held up his hands in surrender. "Point taken." He sighed but flashed a small smile. "I'm very sorry that I've been neglecting my apology. Can you ever forgive me?"

"That's yet to be decided, I think." Ginny pointed out.

Harry sighed and looked down at the table for a long moment. "There are only so many ways to say I'm sorry, Gin." He glanced up at her and ran a hand through his messy jet-black hair. "That doesn't mean I'm going to give up or stop trying to find new ways to say it, but it does mean that you've got to give a bloke a bit of hope so he doesn't feel completely defeated."

Ginny felt a pang of guilt and looked away from him as she collected her thoughts. He did have a bit of a point. At some point she had to let him know whether or not his attempts were worth it and if she were going to be completely honest, she had been trying to see just how far he'd go. It was cruel, she knew, but she had her reasons. She wasn't one who could trust so easily. Not after being hurt so badly. And without trust, what kind of friendship could they hope to have?

"Say something. Please?" Harry asked, reaching for her hand again.

"Look. Harry, I know you went through a lot right after everything happened. I'm not so selfish that I thought it would all just be sunshine and daisies after the war, but I wasn't expecting to be left alone for the better part of two years. I thought we'd be able to work through everything together." He opened his mouth to say something but she held up a hand to stop him. "Let me finish." She sighed. "Even though I didn't quite understand it at the time, and I don't all the way understand it now, I can appreciate the need to be alone for a bit to work things out. Not for two years mind you, but I'm willing to look past all that. Because as much as I ihate/i having to admit it, Teddy was bloody well iright/i…Again. But just like I would've been selfish to think things would go back to how they were after the war, things can't just go back to how they were now. It's going to take a bit of time. It's going to take a bit more than notes around my flat and flowers and photographs. I'm willing to give it a chance, Harry. But I need to be able to trust you again, and that might take a while."

He sat there thinking her words over. She was right of course. Had to remember to thank Teddy for whatever it was he'd said to her. The way he saw it he owed entirely too much to the former Slytherin. Which wasn't exactly how he liked it, but it was a fact none the less. It was worse that Teddy wasn't even smug about the whole thing. "I know I mucked this all up. And I know it's going to take a lot to fix it. But Ginny I will fix it. I'm going to get you to smile again and I'm going to get you to laugh again and I'm going to make all of this right."

"Well, that's a start at any rate." Ginny said softly.

"'Ere we go." Tonya said sweetly as she approached the table. She set the plates down in front of each of them and a soda in front of Harry and smiled. "Anything else I can get for you?"

"No, we're great, thank you." Harry answered politely.

"Alright, you just let me know, luv." She gave a wink and turned to leave.

Harry stared after her for a moment before turning back to Ginny with a smile. "Okay. I think you've got a point." Harry conceded with a bit of a laugh.

"Told you." Ginny smirked, picking up her burger.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author Note:** This story does NOT follow DH canon. It is the inbetweens of my two previous fics "Derailed" and "Adventures in Dress Shopping". This is pretty much canon through HBP and takes certain things from DH, however, I've put together different pairings and kept certain characters alive because I love them, and that's just how it is going to be. Reviews are more than welcome and I'd love constructive criticsim. I really hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I am not JKR. I do not own any of the characters. This story is merely my own interpretation of events based in the Universe that she created. Please don't sue.

*******************************

The sun was the enemy. And apparently they'd won the match. Those were the only two things she could figure out because there wasn't anything else she could cognitively think about beyond the pounding in her head. And if they'd lost the match, she wouldn't have been this bloody sick feeling. She threw a blanket over her head to block out the traitorous sun and control the nauseous feeling in her stomach. Maybe if she could manage that much she'd be able to piece together exactly what had happened last night. Concentrating wasn't the easiest thing at the moment and it was enough of a challenge to get herself to stop feeling so dizzy. Oh she was never drinking again.

She groped helplessly for her wand so she could take care of the treacherous light which was simply magnifying her agony at this point. For the love of Merlin's back hair, what had her teammates done to her? She'd been hung-over before, but those seemed like a mild annoyance in comparison to what she was experiencing in that moment.

Unable to locate her wand, the redhead let out a groan and clumsily made her way to the window to shut the blinds. Cutting off the direct sunlight made her feel slightly less tortured, but the dizzying headache was still ever-present. She was now, however, able to recall flashes of what had led her to this state. Helena should expect a howler for that sixth round of shots.

There was a knock at the door and Ginny cringed. She considered ignoring it. It would be easy to do. To just curl up and pretend she hadn't heard it. Whoever it was would get the hint after a minute or so. She wouldn't have to move and she wouldn't have to deal with whatever waited on the other side of the door. But what if it was her Mum? Or Gwen? Or her landlord who already she had to convince once before that she wasn't a dodgy thing and that she didn't usually keep such odd hours. Not that showing up at the door in the state she was in was going to convince any of those potential guests that she was in top form, but not answering was likely to be worse.

She grabbed the comforter off her bed and wrapped it around herself as she slowly made her way through the bedroom towards the front door. She was still in her pajamas and her hair was looking something like a tangled rat's nest, but she wasn't entirely concerned with her appearance. On the bright side, she was actually iwearing/i pajamas and not the completely trashed ones either, but the moderately worn ones that didn't have holes in inappropriate places. The day was looking better already, however when the knock came again and she groaned.

"You are loud and early. You'd better have a bloody good excuse." She threatened, though the effect was vaguely lost through the whine in her voice.

"It's two in the afternoon and I've been standing out here for the past ten minutes." Came Harry's bemused voice through the door.

"Well that was stupid. The door is open." Ginny said as she glanced at the unlatched lock. Sure enough a moment later the door opened and there stood a rather perturbed looking Harry.

"Ginny!" Harry gaped as she continued past him on her way to the kitchen. She stopped to flinch at the volume.

"Ow." Was all she said, in a low voice.

"You just left your door open? What if someone had come by?" He demanded, only adjusting his volume slightly, not enough to make a difference really.

"Well apparently they'd stand outside making a racket for ten minutes til I pointed out that the door was open. And they'd be loud." She said with a sigh, continuing towards the kitchen.

"Ginny, you can't just leave your door open!" Harry scolded with a certain shock to his voice. She was smarter than all this. So why was she acting so stupid? "What if someone other than me had come by and wanted to hurt you, or broke in and stole something?"

"Gods, Harry. What part of worst hangover of my life do you and your volume not understand?" She asked, not bothering to address what he'd said because it was so utterly ridiculous that it didn't really warrant a response from the redhead.

"Well maybe if you and your friend, oh Gods, Sandy? Was it? Right, if you and she hadn't gone and seduced all those free drinks from the poor unsuspecting bartender, you might be feeling a bit better today." Harry was turning smug at all this as he started to follow her to the kitchen.

"What? How would you…? I didn't seduce any…"Ginny paused and took a bracing hold on the counter for support as a flash from the previous night came to her mind. "Sweet Morgana in a bonfire…" She muttered to herself.

"Hmmm, having a bit of delayed recall?" Harry asked with a grin. "Let's see if I can help, shall we?" He took a breath and put on his best Ginny impersonation that he could manage. "Phil-love, really you know you're going to give in eventually and wouldn't you like to feel as though you had some part in the decision making? And look, Sandy here will give you a big ol' kiss on the cheek if you do it. And if you make sure not to skimp on the liquor this time 'round, she'll kiss on the lips." He raised his voice up to an impossible decibel and fluttered his eyelashes. "I think perhaps I should've listened to Hermione and let you go off with your teammates. Though, I did rather enjoy the bit of karaoke that occurred. I never heard Celstina Warbeck sound so good."

"I'm going to box you right in the ears. I don't sound like that. " Ginny scowled at him over her shoulder. "And at least I wasn't promising myself to ol' Phil." She pointed out. The redhead stood on her tiptoes reaching for the high cabinet, blanket still drowning her small frame. Her fingers grazed the side of a vile, unable to grab it. "Sonova…" She muttered, trying to keep her balance as she strained to reach the top shelf.

"Gin?" Harry asked standing behind her, but she ignored him still trying to grab the vile. "Ginny." Harry repeated with a smile. Finally, letting out a sigh he gently took her by the shoulders and moved her to one of the kitchen chairs and sat her down. "I'm taller than you." He said simply as he walked over and grabbed the vile she'd been trying to reach. "And you did promise yourself to poor Phil. You know he was quite upset when you welched on it too. I think you're going to owe him an apology…and possibly a few galleons to cover last night's tab." He set the vile in front of her and took a seat on the other side of the table. "Now, do you want some tea or summat? I brought over some hangover potion just in case you were out."

"No, I don't need tea. Just the potion. Which is what this is, actually." She said holding up the vile and taking a sip before pulling a face. "Rancid stuff." She shook her head, but was starting to feel quite a bit better. She let out another sigh and looked over at Harry. "Did you honestly just stop by to make sure I had the proper potions in order to not want to off myself?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

Harry smiled and looked down at the table. "No, actually. You've caught me. I came over in the wild hope that perhaps in your weakened and nauseous state you might say yes to going on a proper date with me. The potion was meant to be used as a bribe." He admitted, glancing back up at her.

"Harry…" Ginny started, but Harry held up a hand to stop her and reached inside his jacket pocket.

"Before you reject me outright," He started, digging for something. "I did come prepared with a back-up plan." After another moment of searching he pulled out folded pieces of paper. As he unfolded it, Ginny realized they were pages that looked as though it had been ripped from a book. "Now, I know we're not old and grey and we're not sitting on rockers and reminiscing about the good old days and all that, but you know, I'm going to remind you of a promise you made to me." He handed her the pages and simply watched as she read them.

It took Ginny a moment to recognize where the page had come from. Until she saw her own handwriting beside his. She scanned through the pages and when she realized just when she'd written them, the grin grew wide on her face. "Draco. Nicodemus. Malfoy." Was all she said, unable to stop the giggle in her voice.

Harry let out a laugh, beaming over at her. "See? I told you. It's still funny." He grinned. "And you still make me smile. And you'd make me smile more if you'd let me take you on a proper date."

"You are…impossible." Ginny laughed, still looking at the pages from the old journal. She couldn't remember the last time she'd picked up that blasted thing. Let alone look through the old conversations and pages and everything. She'd gotten a new journal after everything. One that didn't hold old painful memories. A new journal for a new start. And then here he was, the reason she'd started over in the first place, asking her out on a proper date. Oh he was impossible.

"But you're smiling." He pointed out with a hopeful glance. "And that's never a bad sign." He just looked at her for several moments, grinning. "So is that a yes?" He asked, finally.

"No." She said with a laugh, sighing, but still smiling.

"So it's a no? But you're smiling!"

"It's not a no." Ginny said, getting up from the table and moving towards the living room, taking her blanket with her.

Harry watched after her for a moment before tilting his head to the side. "So what is it?" He asked, getting up to follow her.

"It's not anything. I haven't decided yet." Ginny said with a shrug. "It's…It's undecided. And a smile doesn't mean anything. It just means that even after a lifetime goes by, I will never stop deriving pleasure from the fact that Draco Malfoy's middle name is Nicodemus." Ginny giggled through the last part. She began rearranging pillows on the couch.

Harry got up from the table and walked over and took a seat on the couch. "Right then." He said with a puzzled look.

Ginny just rolled her eyes and moved to sit beside him on the couch, groaning in pain as her back gave an ache. So apparently that wasn't just the hangover.

"All right?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Apparently, dancing on the bar isn't the best idea straight after a match." Ginny gave a tight-lipped smile and sighed. "Either that, or I played as hard as I would've hoped last night and so I'm sore from that. If Gwenog asks? It's the latter."

"You were rather brilliant, out there, last night."Harry remarked softly. "And I mean both on the broom and the bar, mind you." He added with a teasing grin.

"I don't know whether to thank you for that or to beat you with a pillow." Ginny said, letting the blanket fall from her shoulders. She was wearing a camisole and a pair of her more comfortable and less trashy sweats that were all together too big and baggy on her as she was pretty sure they had previously belonged to a bloke.

"Beating me with a pillow takes entirely too much effort." Harry pointed out helpfully. "And besides that, I might be able to help with the back issue if you don't resort to beating me senseless." He flashed a suave smile and gave a small shrug.

"Oh?" Ginny asked, intrigued, shifting into a more comfortable position on the couch.

"'Course, you'll have to do one thing for me. Tiny, really." He said looking up innocently.

"And that is?"

"You'll have to go on a proper date with me." He answered reasonably.

Ginny gave him a roll of her eyes and sighed. She had to think about this. On the one hand, she'd been planning on saying yes to him anyhow, she just wanted to make him work for a bit so he didn't think she was giving in too bloody easily. On the other hand, however, her back really was bothering her and she was curious to see how he planned on fixing it. "How about if you make the pain go away, I'll seriously consider it, but if it doesn't work, then the deal is off?"

Harry grinned widely. That was the best offer he was going to get and he knew it so he wasn't going to push his luck. "Deal then." He positioned her so that her back was to him. She threw him a vaguely confused look over her shoulder but he waved her off and waited until she was facing the opposite wall before he gently moved her wild red waves to fall over one shoulder. He rested two warm hands on her back and began to carefully massage her sore muscles.

"Oh bloody hell, this has to be against some sort of rule." Ginny murmured, twisting and arching her back in response to his warm touch. It was cheating, was what it was. He wasn't supposed to know how to make her have to bite back moans. It was taking a surprising bit of self-control to manage that much, especially when he hit the middle of her back where it was worst. She literally had to hold her breath and bite down hard on her lip to keep from embarrassing herself.

"How's that?" Harry asked after several minutes had gone by and she could hear the smile in his voice. He knew that he was practically driving her mental. He was suddenly glad for the things he'd picked up along the way since he'd been gone. He did, after all, have a lot of time on his hands. He had read a ilot/i of books. On a ilot/i of subjects. Hermione really would've been proud.

"That's brilliant, actually." Ginny said her voice sounding just a bit strained as she struggled to keep an even tone. "So this date you keep bringing up…"

"What about it?" Harry asked, applying a fair amount of pressure to a particularly nasty knot.

Ginny took in a sharp gasp of air and braced herself for a moment before finally answering. "Would I have to get all…girly like?" She asked, almost hesitantly.

"Yes." Harry said simply. "Not a dress or anything like, but you would have to make like you were going somewhere special. Cause you will be."

"Where exactly are you going to be taking me, Mr. Potter?" She asked, curiously.

"Haven't decided yet, but trainers aren't allowed wherever it is and neither are denims or oversized jumpers that belong to your brothers. So keep that in mind." He teased. His hands moved lightly over her exposed shoulders and she turned back to look at him.

"So s'pose I did agree to this." She said, careful to keep it all in the realm of the hypothetical. "Would this mean that I would have to stop seeing all those other blokes? Because really, Harry, I don't think it's fair to kick them all to the curb simply because iyou/i want to take me on a proper date." She managed to keep a straight face through all of this, though how exactly she wasn't quite sure.

Harry, for his part, gave her a baffled look. "Other blokes?" He asked, trying to keep his shock to a minimum without much luck. Hermione hadn't mentioned any other blokes. Actually, no, she had, she'd said that there weren't any. That Ginny had gone on one or two dates with a handful of dreadful choices but that was it. There hadn't been any other blokes in months. "Well, er…I reckon that'll depend on how the date erm…goes." He was trying to keep his horror to himself and so leaving her question unanswered wasn't a viable option.

"I see." Ginny said simply. "I s'pose that's fair enough." She added after a moment.

"Well…I'm er…glad you think so?" Harry said, now very confused.

The look on his face was completely priceless and so Ginny couldn't help but give in to the smile that was now tugging forcefully on the corners of her mouth. "Merlin you get jealous quickly these days." She said with a laugh as she fell backwards into the soft cushions of the couch. "You should've seen your face!" She squealed, still laughing, "Trying to hold it all in like!" She continued laughing for a moment until she felt a soft pillow whap her in the face. "OI!"

"Oh, don't you 'oi' me, Weasley!" Harry said with a dry laugh of his own. "Here you had me going with tales of other blokes and you think it's all fun and games?" He gave a wicked grin and began tickling her. "Hmmm? Who's laughing now?"

Ginny squealed and squirmed trying to avoid him, but he kept up with his revenge tactic. Finally, after what felt like forever for the redhead, she was able to flip them both onto the ground. On the more level battleground, she had a better shot at getting away. "Can't! Breathe!" She cried out after a few more minutes of struggling. She was still laughing as she tried to squirm away, but Harry pinned her, holding her hands down on the ground beside either side of her head.

"Truce?" He asked, a bit out of breath from the struggle. He was smiling at her and she looked beautiful with her face all red and her hair tangled and everywhere at once, her honey brown eyes sparkling with laughter. This was the Ginny he remembered.

"Truce." Ginny breathed helpless at the moment. She smiled up at him, feeling a little anxious with him looking at her like that and being so close to him. "What?" She asked, laughing again, this time with a hint of nervousness to it. She could smell him and he smelt like home.

"Nothing." Harry said softly as he gently moved a strand of Weasley-red hair out of her face. "I just forgot…You're gorgeous when you laugh, you know." He qualified after a moment.

Ginny felt her cheeks growing hot, her eyes searching his for an inkling as to what was going to happen next. Then, without warning, he released her hands and quickly jumped to his feet.

"I…erm…I should go." He said quickly, shaking his head, taking a deep breath. "I just wanted to check in and make sure that you were…and you are so…" He started backing towards the door.

"Harry?" Ginny called as he reached the doorknob. She shifted to get to her feet, giving him a look that was a mix of disappointment, confusion and relief.

"Yeah?" He asked, turning to glance back at her and quickly regretting it. He glanced down at the floor and then at the picture on the wall to the left of her and then back at her again. He needed to get out of there. He needed to make sure that he didn't do something he might regret later. Something that might upset her or make her shut him out again. That wasn't at all what he wanted to do. He didn't want to scare her off and being there with her and so close and teasing and acting like their old selves again wasn't going to make him control himself. Which is what he desperately needed to do.

"Owl me when you plan on taking me on this proper date." She said after a long moment of trying to catch his eye and perhaps get an explanation for what just happened.

Harry gave a smile and a nod. "I will. Hedwig could do with a bit of fattening up anyhow." He teased. "I'll see you." He said and with that he was out the door.


	8. Chapter 8

The rain was coming down in sheets and it was all anyone could do to keep their broom flying in a straight line. You couldn't even hear your own thoughts over the howl of the wind. With robes soaked completely through and the near pitch black sky it was becoming increasingly difficult to tell which player was on which team. The only light came from the flashes of lightning that lit up the sky and the field. Ginny's goggles were fogged and she was franticly searching for the bloody snitch so she could work on being properly warm again. Visibility was complete shite so it was going to take quite the miracle to end this game before the rain let up.

A bludger went speeding past her and it was only sheer luck that the wind pulled her broom to the left causing her to narrowly avoid being hit. She couldn't tell who hit it but if it was someone from her own bloody team she'd be having words with them later on. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and refocus. She didn't even know the score of the game anymore. She'd just have to catch the snitch and hope for the best. She had to worry about her objective and trust that the rest of the team was doing their jobs.

There was a glint of gold after a flash of lightning and Ginny's eyes lit up. Gripping her broom handle tightly, she sped off for it desperately trying to track it with her eyes. It was getting lost in the rain and was more unpredictable than the wind. Still the redhead was relentless and determined to end this. When she was sure she was close enough she reached out a hand, just as another bludger came flying out of nowhere. Her hand hadn't quite gripped the snitch when she was hit hard in her ribs. The hand holding the wet, slick broom handle slipped and the redhead went freefalling towards the ground looking like a tossed aside ragdoll.

There were voices. Muffled and distant but there were voices. Everything was black with a sort of eerie glow as though from some far off too bright light. She felt vaguely like she was falling or floating. She couldn't tell which. She felt like she was suspended in liquid. She couldn't tell where her center was. She felt suspended in time. Moving in slow motion. The pain didn't come yet for another moment. It wasn't completely unbearable pain, she'd been in worse, but it was enough to reassure her that she was in fact alive. There was no way that death hurt this badly. There was some sort of block in her mind and she kept trying to move it. Something was keeping her from being able to think clearly. She still couldn't make out the voices and the effort to try only made the pain worse. She kept trying to push herself towards what looked like a warm glow, but she felt like she was moving through quicksand and was growing tired and heavy. The voices were getting more and more far off and the warm glow was cooling off and dissipating as the darkness swallowed her up.

"Excuse me?" A blonde woman in healers' robes gave a soft knock on the door as she stepped into the chilly hospital room. It wasn't as though she could just hear about what had happened and stay away. She might've been a relatively new healer in the department, but she was damn good at her job and she wasn't going to sit by and not try and help. Part of it was because of her friendship with Teddy Nott, and the other part was because of the time she'd spent with Ginny in the time after leaving Hogwarts, the redhead wasn't anything what the former Slytherin expected her to be. Turns out old house stereotypes weren't quite what they were cracked up to be. In any case, when she'd heard about what had happened to the Weasley girl, she got herself put on the case. "My name is Tracey Malfoy and I am the healer assigned to Ms. Weasley's case." She introduced herself, though when she saw the dark haired man sitting at the bedside, she knew it was silly.

"Hello dear." Arthur said quietly. "What can you tell us about my baby girl here?" He glanced down at the broken form of the very strong woman that he'd raised. "She's going to be alright, yeah?"

"Well, she hit her head pretty hard when she fell." Tracey started.

"I thought there were charms on the pitch that prevented major injuries, these days." Molly interjected, not bothering to look up from her daughter's face.

"There are, however, when Ms. Weasley was flying she was an estimated four hundred meters in the air and no one even saw her slip until she was too close to the ground to stop her momentum." Tracey explained. "The charms were what kept her alive. If they hadn't been in place, she would've been killed." That was rather blunt and she probably should've censored a bit, but they needed to know the truth no matter what. This wasn't a case where minced words were going to help anything.

"So what does that mean then?" Molly asked, glancing up for just a brief moment. "Is she going to be alright?"

"It means that she is alive and will likely make a recovery, if she wakes up. What remains unknown at the moment is just how much damage there is and how long that recovery will take. Most prob-"

"If?" Harry spoke up for the first time in hours. "You said if she wakes up." He gave a panicked look to the healer, his hand still holding firmly onto Ginny's. He'd been sitting in the same spot beside her bed ever since she had been apparated there. "That implies the chance of her not waking up." He reasoned aloud, eyes darting between the faces in the room, waiting for someone to tell him there had been some sort of mistake and this was all some sort of horrible joke and Ginny would open her eyes and flash that brilliant smile of hers and everything would be fine.

"Well," Tracey stated taking a deep breath and frowning slightly. "With this kind of head trauma there is always that chance. However, Ginny is a young, perfectly healthy woman and so she is expected to wake up. However I am not able at this time to rule out that possibility and I do want you to be completely aware of the risks involved. Because it was such a hard hit, we do need to be prepared for any outcome." This was not Tracey's favourite part of the job. Not with any case, but especially with this one. It was painfully obvious just how worried the three there were. Plus, she knew that there were half a dozen more Weasley's in the waiting room and undoubtedly Hermione and Teddy would be stopping by.

"So what more can we do now?" Arthur asked sensing the high anxiety and feelings of helplessness in the room. Tracey gave a small sigh and stepped over to Ginny's bed to check the vitals.

"Right now, there isn't much we can do aside from wait for her to come out of this. We've mended her broken bones and fractures. We've also gotten the internal bleeding under control. Her ribs will need to be regrown when she wakes up, but the damage that they did when they shattered under the force of the bludger was repaired already." Tracey made some notes on her bits of parchment which would go into Ginny's file.

"When she wakes up? Why can't you do it while she's already out so she won't have to feel it?" Harry asked. He knew all too well what it was like to regrow bones and he wasn't all too keen on Ginny having to deal with that sort of pain. Ever.

"I don't think it's wise to put the body under any more stress than completely necessary just yet. Not until we at least know a bit more about any damage that could have been sustained. Regrowing bones takes a lot out of the body and just right now, I think she should be a little bit more stable before we proceed with that." Tracey gave a small smile. "Mr. Potter, I know that you are worried about her, but I assure you she is in excellent hands and we're going to do everything we can." Turning her attention to Ginny's parents she let out a small sigh. "I think the best thing for everyone is to get a bit of rest. There's no sense in worrying yourselves into one of these beds and just as soon as we know anything we'll let you know straight away." With that Tracey left the room and headed toward her office where she could review a few of the test results.

"Molly, love, why don't you come with me to get something from the cafeteria." Arthur said, shifting to move from his chair, which wasn't particularly comfortable. "We can give the boys and the children an update and stretch out our legs a bit." He stood and gave Harry a small wink.

"Arthur, I don't want to--" Molly started looking at her darling girl.

"Harry will be right here with her. C'mon. This room isn't helping your nerves and I'm afraid after the twins left you agreed to go a bit easier on the nerves, yeah?" He took his wife's hand and gave a small tug. Molly was torn between the two, but eventually gave it, giving her daughter's face a gentle stroke before she left.

"If there's anything…" Molly trailed off and gave Harry a worried look. Harry could only nod.

The older couple left the room and Harry found himself alone with just the unconscious Ginny there beside him. He held onto her hand, careful not to squeeze it too hard, but not daring to let go for fear of her slipping away if he did. He kept trying to take deep breaths, but without really concentrating on it, he only succeeded in making himself a little dizzy. He let out a sigh and moved a strand of hair from her face.

"C'mon, Gin." He murmured. "C'mon, you're stronger than this. You need to make it through this. You need to. I'm not giving you the choice here. Mostly because you've got too much living left to do to let this beat you, but because I'm selfish. Because I screwed up bad but I need another chance. You have to be there to give me a second chance. Or a third chance. Or whatever bloody number we're on now because I'm a bloody awful to you but I need to make it up to you. I have to. Somehow I will. I have to make it up to you so that I can forgive myself for how I hurt you. I've got so much planned for the pair of us I need you around so that I can do that for you. I need to be able to spoil you and treat you the way I ought to have been able to since the beginning of all this. The way you deserve to be treated. I need to be able to give you my Mum's ring like I'd planned on. So you have to wake up. You have to wake up and get better and never ever, bloody ever get hurt like this ever again because I'm not sure I can go through this again, and your parents can't go through it either. So if you're doing this just to spite me and make me mental, you're doing a bloody brilliant job of it, but everyone else too. And I probably deserve it, but they sure as hell don't. So wake up. Please. Please. Please, Gin." He gave her hand a squeeze and pressed it lightly to his lips.

The warm glow was back. Warmer than she remembered and she was swimming and floating in suspended liquid. She could see colours now. Or two at least. She could see bright, emerald green, mingling with rich, fiery red. Swirling and entwining with one another. The voices were back, but they were still a distant muttering. It was slightly easier to move now. The pain was there, but a shadow of what it had been when she last remembered. A dull ache. Her eyes couldn't focus on the swirling colours which were all around her. The voice got clearer and she could make out a single voice. It sounded familiar and made her feel like home. Unable to pin it down though, she gave up on trying to decipher the words. Instead she concentrated on the familiar speech pattern, the stress on each syllable and the gentle rhythm it created. It was lulling almost. Comfortable. She felt herself moving towards the sound of the voice. The glow was getting warmer and the colours were getting brighter. The colours were so bright and she could hear certain words. She heard her name. She moved ever closer to the sound. Still unable to put a name to the voice. The warmth grew and when she reached it, it was like coming up for fresh air.

"Harry…" Ginny breathed, stirring slightly, but not enough to open her eyes. She was halfway between consciousnesses. Her head lulled to the side and she tried to move her body, but was unable to for the broken ribs. "Harry…" She mumbled again.

"Ginny?" Harry sprung up from the back of his chair which he'd sunk into at one point or another. "Gin? C'mon, love. C'mon. Ginny, I'm here. I'm right here. C'mon. Open your eyes. Just open your eyes. Please." He was on the edge of his seat, holding her hand tightly in his, eyes never leaving her face. He searched frantically for any sign of her being there inside this odd, broken and defeated looking body. He just needed to see the light in her eyes and then he'd know that she was alright.

The redhead's eyes gave a small flutter and she gave a helpless look around the room, unsure of where she was. "H-Harry?" She murmured softly, as her eyes met his emerald green ones. After a moment, as reality began to slowly set itself in she frowned. "Oww." She moaned.

Harry broke out into a smile and took a moment to catch his breath as he ever so gently brushed a hand against her face. "I'm here. I'm right here." He said softly, his voice cracking slightly. "I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere. Try not to move." He said, relieved just to have her there, back and awake and alive and…Oh bugger, Molly and Arthur. Reaching up he hit the call button beside the bed and within ten seconds there was a younger witch in training robes standing there. "Get Healer Malfoy and if you see a bunch of redheads out there send them in." Harry said before looking back down at Ginny.

"What…Ow…What the hell happened?" Ginny asked, having a significantly difficult time breathing or thinking. She was on so many potions that it was hard to string words together. Plus the stress on her ribs was helping nothing.

"You fell. During a match and…I thought that…I mean they said that we might…" Harry broke off and shook his head. That wasn't the point any longer. She'd woken up and that was what mattered. She was there with him now and all that worrying, the panicking and the feeling nauseous at the thought of losing her again was all for nothing.

"Knock, knock." Tracey said quietly before entering the room. "Welcome back, Ms. Weasley." She smiled at her patient. "I'm afraid that we'll have a few things to do before I can allow everyone in just yet, but I'm glad to see you're awake."

"Molly and Arthur will want to see that she's alright." Harry said, not taking his eyes from the redhead.

"Of course." Tracey obliged, just as the older couple walked through the door.

"Ginnikins!" Molly squealed as she hurried over to the bed and gave her daughter a gentle hug. "Oh goodness, you're alright. You had me ten shades of worried, young lady." The older woman was now crying and had to take a few deep breaths to regain a bit of her composure.

"I really do hate to do this right as you're all being happy and what all, but she needs to be taken for some tests. You're going to have to wait in with everyone else until we get her back in here for the night. I promise we'll go quickly." Tracey said in a vain attempt at getting everyone to move from the room.

"What tests? How many of them?" Arthur asked, able to worry about the logistics now that he was sure his daughter was alright.

"Some tests for her brain to make sure it's alright. Also, getting her prepped for bone regrowing. Nothing major and nothing that is going to harm her in anyway. Just something that is going to help us know a bit more about where we're going to go from here. Now, I need everyone out so that I can get her all set."

Molly and Arthur took another few minutes to fuss over her before finally exiting the room. Harry hung around for an extra few seconds pressing a light kiss to her forehead. "I'll be back, mind you. What do you want me to bring you?"

"I…Er, I'm not…" She was confused and her eyes gave a blank blink as she tried to sort through everything that was going on. Harry gave a concerned look.

"She's going to be fine, I promise." Tracey said softly. "That's the potions and all talking. By the time she's back from this, she'll be fine to talk and carry on a conversation and we can see just how bad the damage is."

"Thank you, Tracey." Harry said softly. "Please…Just…don't let anything happen to her." He added as he stepped from the room.

"I won't."


	9. Chapter 9

"Ow. Ow. Fuckity, ow." Ginny cursed, falling back onto her flat feet and holding her side which was aching in pain. She glared up at the cabinet, a small part of her actually hating that high shelf. Of course she could just do the sensible thing and use her wand, but it was really the principle of the matter, wasn't it? She ought to be able to something as simple as grabbing a mug for tea without the use of magic. She also ought to be able to move around at a normal person's speed rather than the cripple pace she'd been at since she'd gotten home. It was infuriating considering she was in shape and fit and all. Excepting the still sore ribs that she'd shattered and bit of nerve damage of course. The healers told her that she ought to be up and about soon enough, but apparently not soon enough for the redhead.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Harry's voice came from the other room and was getting closer. He'd been staying on her couch for the past few days, trying to keep her out of trouble. He should have probably realized that task was as impossible as she was stubborn, but he still managed to be surprised by her innate ability for the mischievous. It didn't help matters that she thought she could do as she pleased, despite Tracey Malfoy's explicit instructions of what she was and wasn't allowed to do while in recovery.

"I'm fine." Ginny grumbled, still eying the high shelf menacingly when Harry entered the room. He knew that look all too well and quickly moved to intervene before she ended up hurting herself worse. She was honest to goodness a full-time job and he was suddenly very glad he'd put off going down to the Ministry to talk with Kingsley about perhaps getting into the Auror training program

"Which one?" He asked as he physically moved her out of the way and into a chair at the table.

"I can get it myse-"

"Which one?" Harry interrupted. If it hadn't been for the vividly clear memory of her lying helpless in that hospital bed haunting his thoughts, he might've let her test her strength and abilities. As it was, he'd sooner sacrifice a limb than see her end up back there.

"The one with the snitches on it." She relented, still pouting. "I would've gotten it." She muttered, mostly to herself.

"Yeah, and either injured yourself or ended up with mugs all over the floor." Harry reached easily to grab the mug for her. He set it down in front of her and grabbed the kettle from the stove top and poured her tea for her as well. "You remember that tiny detail about not doing anything strenuous for a few days? Taking it easy and all that nonsense? That includes finding other ways to get mugs down from the top shelf. You've got three options aside from reaching yourself." He took the seat beside her and put his hand gently on her back.

"I ought to be able to reach a bloody mug for myself if I want one." She was acting like a child, but she felt she was entitled. After all, she'd been cooped up in St. Mungo's for far longer than she would've hoped (though when measured against not wanting to spend iany/i time there at all, two days seems much longer) and the last thing she wanted to do was feel like a prisoner in her own flat.

"Or you could use your wand, like a grown-up witch." Harry suggested teasingly. At the look he received for that comment, he couldn't help but laugh. "Or you could ask me to help you?"

"I shouldn't ineed/i help." She grumbled under her breath. It vaguely bugged her when Harry was just being gentlemanly, opening doors and pulling out chairs and the like, the fact that he was practically caring for her like a child was maddening.

"Well, you do until you're all healed and everything. Magic is fast, but only so fast and there was quite a bit they couldn't get to." Harry said with a gentle smile, leaning to kiss her lightly on the head. He knew she was having a rough time of it, but she was strong. She'd make it through.

"What's the third option then?" She asked a bit skeptically.

"Will the bloody thing down with the sheer power of your mind?" Harry teased with a smirk. He flinched at her playful swat and stole a bite of her toast. "Mmm, blackberry jam." He laughed with a mouth full of toast.

"Prat." She chuckled, giving him another half-hearted smack on the arm.

Be that as it may, he'd gotten her to nearly smile for the first time since she'd come to and that in itself was accomplishment enough for Harry. After the news she'd gotten about where she stood as far as Quidditch went, it was hard to even coax anything but a sarcastic comment from her mouth. As it stood, Harry was trying his best to avoid any conversation pertaining to flying, Quidditch, brooms, her money situation or anything that might remind her of any of those things. He'd tried telling her not to worry about the money. He could very well take care of them, but she didn't quite want to hear it, so he'd let the subject drop.

"What's the plan for today then?" He asked, stealing another bite of her toast. He'd been trying to get her to leave the house a bit, but so far he hadn't much luck in that department.

"No plan." Ginny said a bit dismissively, taking a sip of her tea.

"Why don't we go for a walk or something then?" Harry coaxed gently. She had to get back into a regular schedule and the sooner she did it, the sooner she'd realized that things would go back to normal eventually.

"I'm not supposed to go for walks for another two days." Ginny reminded him, annoyed. "That's considered strenuous and I might re-pull a muscle or some shite."

"Right." Harry said with a sigh. "Well how 'bout a Muggle flick then?" Harry suggested. "I heard about this one that's supposed to be a laugh…"

"Dunno. Not really feeling like laughing." She pushed herself up from the table and made her way to the counter to grab the iProphet/i which had been delivered that morning.

"Gin…" Harry said a bit hesitantly, eyeing the paper. "Why don't we go clean out that back closet then? You keep saying how you want to get that organized." He was trying desperately to keep her from reading about the Harpies match, because either way it was going to upset her and she was upset enough, he figured.

"Maybe. After I finish this." Ginny said a bit distractedly, turning directly to the sports section. If she wasn't going to be allowed to play Quidditch, she was going to bloody well read about it.

"Ginny, I don't thi-"

Harry was cut off by a rapping at the window. Both of them looked up quickly to see a large tawny owl hovering just outside the glass carrying a letter. Ginny set the paper down on the table and started to make her way over to the window.

"I've got it." Harry said quickly, jogging over to the let the bird inside. The owl took off as soon as he was rid of his burden and Harry was left scratching his head. He glanced down at the envelope and saw Ginny's name scrawled hastily across.

"Who's it from?" Ginny asked, curiously, the paper laying forgotten on the table.

"Dunno. It's for you." He said turning the envelope over in his hands as though it would reveal something to him. When he reached the kitchen he handed it off to her and waited somewhat impatiently.

Ginny tore the envelope over and unfolded the paper.

"Who is it from?" Harry asked. Ginny didn't respond as her eyes scanned the page. "Well what does it say?" Harry asked again. Ginny was still reading and then started again from the beginning. "Ginny, you're killing me here." Harry half laughed. "Who is it?"

"Shh." Ginny hushed him as she furrowed her brow and kept reading.

Harry sighed and waited patiently as she re-read the letter for a third time, it really wasn't that long, why was she taking forever? She slowly lowered the letter and looked at Harry, still vastly confused.

"Well?" He prodded, not able to fix her confusion if he didn't know anything about what was going on.

"It's from Gwenog." Ginny said handing him the letter, and trying to work it all out in her mind.

"She wants you to go to the office?" Harry asked, eyes skimming it again.

"That's what it says. But I don't understa-"

"What does she mean 'talk about your future with the team'?" Harry asked, cutting her off.

"I don't iknow/i" Ginny said exasperated.

"But I don't underst-"

"Neither do I, but we'd better go. She said now, so …" Ginny slid off of the chair and stood up to go get changed out of her pajamas, moving as quickly as her body would allow her to, which wasn't very quick at all.

"We?" Harry asked looking after her, more confused. He wasn't usually allowed to go down to the Harpies' clubhouse. Mostly because of the press that was there and the like, but partly because Ginny said she'd never hear the end of it if she'd brought him by. He got free tickets to matches, so he didn't complain too much. Besides, it wasn't as though he needed any help landing himself in the tabs.

"Well I can't very well apparate on my own just yet seeing as my parts aren't all settled inside like." Ginny called back to him. About three seconds later she cursed loudly as a fairly loud bang was heard from her direction.

"Ginny…" Harry asked, his eyes squeezed closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'm fine." She grumbled back at him. It took a bit of time, but she managed to dress herself and get her shoes on, only resulting in a bit of pain, which she managed to deal with silently so Harry didn't get himself in a strop and decide that Gwenog could wait. "Well let's go then?" She said with a bit of impatience. She moved to pull her hair back to a pony-tail, wincing at the pain it caused in her ribs.

"Alright?" Harry asked, pulling on his left trainer and grabbing his cloak off the hook.

"M'fine. C'mon." Ginny sighed, growing more and more anxious about what it was Gwenog wanted to discuss that couldn't be talked about over owls.

"Okay, okay. Keep your socks on, would you?" Harry laughed, taking her hand in his. "Ready then?" He asked with a supportive smile. When she nodded, he flicked his wand and with a loud CRACK they were gone, feeling the familiar sensation of being squeezed from all directions at once.

Harry was careful to keep her steady when they landed just outside the clubhouse. He gave a quick look around for any reporters who might be easily spotted and when he didn't see any, he gave her hand a gentle tug towards the door.

Ginny could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she thought about what was going to happen in this meeting with her team captain.

Harry gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "It'll be fine, love. Just relax, yeah?" Of course, Harry didn't really know one way or the other, but her hyperventilating definitely wasn't going to help anything.

The redhead gave a nod and led the way towards Gwenog's office. It was an off day, because of the match the night before, so there wasn't very many people around as far as teammates went. That was for the best though. She didn't really want to see anyone. She hadn't since she left Mungo's and it was bad enough they'd seen her there. She'd told the healers not to let 'em in, but Sandy had, of course, found a way in.

When they reached Gwenog's office Ginny paused to take a preparatory breath before reaching for the handle. She gave a glance back at Harry, a mixture of worry and anticipation written all over her face. He went to say something, but she shook her head. "You want to come in or wait out here?" She asked.

"Erm…" Harry hesitated. He wanted to be there for Gin, he really did. But to be perfectly honest, Gwenog was vaguely scary and he didn't get the impression that she was particularly impressed with him. It might be better for everyone involved if he just stayed outside…"Where do you want me?" Harry asked, choosing the safest answer he could think of.

"I want you next to me, holding my hand." Ginny answered, silently contemplating how true they were not just for this circumstance but for the bigger picture. She gave a quick shake of her head as though to refocus her thoughts.

"Then I'll be there." Harry said, giving her hand another squeeze and a supportive smile. "Ready?"

With that, Ginny pushed open the door, without bothering to knock. She was suddenly filled with an overabundance of confidence.

"Weasley." Gwen remarked, not facing the door, but instead, buried in a playbook with her feet up on the desk. "Sit."

"You owled?" Ginny asked as she and Harry took a seat in the empty chairs facing Gwen's desk. She was trying to keep the mood a bit on the more pleasant side.

"I didn't say it was an open meeting." Gwen's eyes narrowed a bit when she focused on Harry, who gave a small, awkward wave.

"I couldn't come alone and he's…He was at my flat." Ginny gave a small shrug. "Besides, I told him to come in." As much as she wanted to stay away from any bad news, the redhead also wanted to make it clear that she was prepared to fight if she had to.

"Right. The healers said you'd be limited until everything was settled." Gwenog said off-handedly. "I've got Cofey seeking in your place. She's not half-bad. Bit of an attitude and all. Plus she's sloppy in her form, but not half-bad." The blonde was mostly musing to herself, not realizing the panic she was causing for her injured seeker.

"Gwen, not that I don't find it fascinating that Cofey is terribly brilliant, but what is it you dragged me to Holyhead for?" Ginny asked, her anxiety getting the better of her. Harry could hardly believe she'd talked to Gwenog Jones (THE GWENOG JONES) that way.

"I never said she was brilliant." Gwenog pointed out. "And if you would keep from getting your knickers in a bunch, I'd have told you already. Merlin's bloody beard." Gwen shook her head and moved a few papers around on her desk.

"Sorry. I just…Your note was cryptic like." She said, trying to emphasize that that was a problem, but Gwen didn't seem to get it.

"What? I told you I needed to see you. It's not as though there was a secret message hidden in there like. I said I needed to meet with you and now you're here. I don't understand the problem." Gwen said, giving a vaguely confused look. She never did quite get why anyone got frustrated with her. She wasn't known for being verbose. She was known for being the best female beater Britain had ever seen. What did she need words for? Her Quidditch playing spoke volumes.

"Not the point, Gwen." Ginny said exasperated. "But in getting to the point, what was it you wanted to discuss?" She was trying not to sound condescending towards her captain, but sometimes…

"I wanted you to take a look at this contract they drew up for you for a starting position next season. But if you don't want it, Weasley, I know about fifteen seekers who would love it." It was Gwen's turn to be exasperated.

At that Ginny was struck speechless and sort of stood there with her mouth hanging open a bit. It took a gentle nudge from Harry, who was beaming ear-to-ear at that, to get her to somewhat snap out of it. "Ex-Excuse me?" She finally managed after a moment.

"I wanted," Gwen said again, speaking much slower and louder. "you to take a look—"

"No, I heard you, but I don't think I _iunderstand/i_ you." Ginny clarified.

"Ginny, she's offering you a starting position." Harry was trying his best to contain himself, suddenly very happy he'd come inside to hear the brilliant news.

"But—But I thought Cofey…" Ginny stammered, apparently slow that day.

"Cofey didn't take a fall off her broom in the roughest match we've played in over eight years and still manage to capture the snitch on her way down to the ground." Gwenog stated, not meaning it as a compliment, though Ginny would take it as one in the privacy of her own slightly deluded mind.

"Yeah, but—"

"Look, you're out for the rest of the season--which I still don't quite understand seeing as you're clearly mobile right now, but that mouthy Healer, the twiggy one, she said that if I let you on a broom I'd be in deep shite and so I guess that's out. Anyhow, the way I see it, you can sign this contract now which gives you two seasons with us, starting seeker and all the benefits that accompany it, or I can go offer it to Cofey and you can find another team to play for. I'd rather you didn't, mind, but I really don't see any other options on the table, so." The blonde was losing patience, which wasn't anything out of the ordinary for her, but was still unsettling for the redhead.

"You want me to start for the Harpies for the next two years?" Ginny asked, mostly in awe. Harry couldn't help but smile and he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"This is about the time you stop asking questions, love." Harry chuckled.

"The boy is right." Gwenog said nodding towards Harry, though he couldn't be sure that she wasn't entirely shocked by that revelation. "Now, do you want to see the contract or not? It's fairly straight forward, mostly a fill in your name in the blank sort of thing. We pay you weekly and you start for us and if you get injured you get a fraction of your pay for the time you're out while the reserve plays for you. You attend press conferences if you need and you do promotional things for the team occasionally and you stay the bleeding hell out of trouble because I'm not a huge fan of seeing my team's name dragged through the mud like."

"Right, right." Ginny said, still flustered and trying to get her mind around the notion that she would be an actual starter on an actual pro-team and not only that, the Harpies, which in her mind was the best bloody team in the league. "So I'd be a starter. For two years. You'd keep me as the starter and I'd get to play in every game." She was mostly talking to herself as if it would help make the idea a bit more real.

"Not as dense as I was beginning to think you were." Gwenog said with a hint of a smile on her face. "I'm not allowed to let you sign it today because you're supposed to have time to go home and look at it and all, but you bring it back to me by the end of the week."

Ginny stood and nodded. "Right. End of the week like." Gwen handed her the parchment and Ginny gave a small sigh. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Gwen said in a bit of a short tone, going back to the paperwork on her desk. "And Weasley?" The blonde added as Ginny's hand reached the doorknob.

"Yeah, Gwen?"

"Do hurry up with signing that thing. You stick me with Cofey next season to go play for the likes of the Pride or the Kestrles and I will consider it a personal offense. I want that blasted League title next year." Gwen said, and Ginny knew that was about as close to a compliment as she was going to get.

"Yeah, Gwen." Ginny said, unable to help the smile that was spreading across her face. "I'll owl it tomorrow."

"Bring it by. I'd rather the tabs not get a hold of this just yet."

"See you tomorrow then." Ginny said, following Harry out the door.

Once the door was shut behind them, the redhead turned to him and grinned madly. "Starting position!!!" She squealed in as low of a voice as she could manage. She jumped up and down, "Ow." At that Harry laughed and placed his hands on her shoulder.

"You deser—" Harry started, but he was cut off by her kissing him and after the moment of surprise and shock had passed, he was kissing her back. And suddenly it felt just like it had back in seventh year. Back before he'd disappeared; before he'd messed everything up. Suddenly none of that mattered. All that mattered was her and that she was there and she was kissing him.

"OI WEASLEY! QUIT MACKIN' IN THE CLUBHOUSE!" A very loud and brassy voice bellowed, the grin clearly evident even without looking.

Ginny jumped back, ignoring the pain it caused. "Sandy…" She breathed, her face beet red and she smiled sheepishly up at Harry. "You're timing is impeccable, wench." The redhead called over to her mate.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing in this universe aside from the setting on this and the plot. Please don't sue. I'm poor.

The Burrow still felt like home and Ginny was pretty sure it would never lose that feeling no matter how old and "grown-up" she got. Everything from the perpetual cluttered feeling to the ever-present aroma of something baking brought a rush of memories and it was all too easy to slip right back into her place in the cozy home. Even her room was nearly exactly how she left it, minus the essentials like clothing and her Weird Sisters and Harpies posters. And though she still couldn't stand the wailing of Celestina Warbeck, at least it was familiar wailing and that's all she could really ask for.

"Ow, Mother of Merlin…" Ginny grumbled, rubbing her sore arms and ribs. That had not been her best idea ever, but she was still nervous for apparating and she wasn't allowed to fly, so really, how else was she supposed to get around? "Mum! I'm here." She announced as she brushed herself off from the fireplace. Floo, while infinitely faster and vaguely more comfortable than apparating was still messy as ever. She gave a quick survey of the living room and when she didn't see anyone, headed for the kitchen, where she was sure to find her mother.

"Ginny, you really oughtn't have come in your condition. I'd have been happy to come by your flat." Molly said, meeting her halfway. She was barely able to mask her joy that her daughter had come to visit. She gave Ginny a much gentler hug than usual as she didn't want to hurt her and Ginny smiled.

"If you'd come by the flat you'd have just been cleaning it the whole time and that wouldn't have made you happy." The younger woman pointed out as she gave her mum an extra little squeeze.

"Where's Harry then? He didn't come with you?" Molly asked innocently trying to change the subject.

"He had other things going on. I told him I was going to be here til the weekend, that's alright yeah?" Ginny asked, taking a seat, wincing at the soreness that was still lingering in her muscles.

"Of course, dear. Why wouldn't it be? Your room is still there and all." Molly said, taking the seat opposite her daughter and flicking her wand to start the kettle. "You know, if you wanted to move back in…" Molly started, but at the look that Ginny gave her she hastily added. "Just til you're back on your feet and all. Or until next season? Though why you agreed to get back up in the air…"

"Mum…" Ginny sighed, shaking her head. "It'll be fine, I promise. Besides, if I move back in, then I run the risk of losing my flat and it's so perfect and all. I'll be able to visit a bit more though, now that I'm not working for a few months." She probably oughtn't have said that, but it would satiate her mum for now.

"I still don't think it was a good idea, signing that contract. You could've done a season of reserves again, if you were that desperate to get back on a broom. I still say—"

"I know what you say, Mum." Ginny cut her off with a sigh, but she was smiling vaguely at her mother's inability to pass up an opportunity to worry about her safety. "And believe me, if I thought I wouldn't be able to handle being on a broom again in August, I'd have told Gwen as much. But it's what I love. It's what I'm good at. I was born to be on a broom, playing Quidditch. I know it makes you nervous and I know that I went and got myself hurt and that didn't help you worrying, but it's been a week since I've been on a broom and it's killing me inside." She tried to explain. "This is all I ever wanted to do in my life."

"If it's making you happy, then I guess I can't say anything that is going to stop you. I just wish you'd have picked something a little less terrifying for me." Molly sighed.

"I know. Sorry about that." Ginny teased with a smile.

"No you're not." Molly smiled. "You're going to help me with dinner to make up for it. But, first I have to tell you about the honor your father got from Kingsley." Molly was practically glowing by the last bit.

"What? Why didn't you say something sooner? Mum!" Ginny laughed, sitting up a bit straighter in her seat.

"We were talking about you and your Quidditch love and I didn't want to jump right into when you first got here." Molly explained.

"Well out with it then! What great honor?" Ginny prodded, inching to the edge of her seat.

"Kingsley is holding a Charity Ball where he is going to award exemplary members from each department. Your father was chosen from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department and will be awarded at the function!" Molly explained, practically bursting at the thought. "It's about time we had a minister who recognized how hard your father works!"

"Oh, Mum that is fantastic! Absolutely brilliant! When did you find out?" Ginny asked, broadly smiling. She knew that it was always a struggle for her father at the Ministry, and she was glad someone was giving him some recognition. Her mother was right. It was long overdue.

"Just the other day. In any case, the whole family is encouraged to attend. It'll be at the beginning of March so now that you haven't got Quidditch commitments, you have no excuse." Molly said, getting up from the table to grab the kettle for tea.

"Mum, not that I'm not proud of Dad, but—"

"If you're proud and you haven't got a match that day, then there is no reason for you not to be there. And make sure you have a dress. You're not wearing your everyday robes to this. I can take you shopping if you'd like." Molly said, refusing to hear any arguments about it.

"Mum, I haven't got a dr—"

"Good. Shopping trip then. We can go tomorrow to get it all sorted, this way you'll not have to worry about it so much. And tell Harry that he ought to get his dress robes all settled for it." Molly said off-handedly.

"Harry? What's he got to do wi—"

"He is a part of this family too. He ought to be there." Molly said, putting a lid on it. "Now, let's get dinner started, yeah?"

Ginny sat there stunned. It was remarkable how Molly managed this every bloody time. She could only hope that the ability to guilt and manipulate children was hereditary and that when that time came for her, her own children would be just as helpless. "What am I in charge of then?" She asked, with a hint of resignation in her voice.

"Potatoes! Peel and clean and then boil and mash. I'm going to dress the roast and we can do the beans together if we're both done." Molly instructed, flicking her wand to summon the sack of potatoes she meant for Ginny to peel and landing on the table.

"Potatoes. Got it." Ginny said, grateful that it was something she could do sitting down because her back was aching a bit worse than usual today.

The pair worked in quiet chatter for a while, not talking of anything important before letting the quiet settle over them, working to the warbling of Celestina Warbeck.

"So what happened between you and Harry that you're hiding out here with me?" Molly asked suddenly, as she flicked her wand towards the roasting pan on the stove, causing it to fit itself into the oven.

Ginny, was in the middle of conducting a potato peeling orchestra while the skins did a lovely soft-shoe number on the table. "What do you mean? Nothing happened. Can't a girl spend some time with her mum without something having happened?" She added, avoiding her mother's gaze.

"Ginny, was I born this morning? You hardly ever come over here anymore of your own accord and you've been peeling potatoes for over twenty-five minutes. I think I know you well enough to know when something happened." Molly said, sitting down beside her daughter. "Stop playing with the food."

"But we're just getting to the big finish!" She whined, but after a sharp look from her mother, she directed the peels into the rubbish bin and the potatoes into the pot. With a sigh, she rested her head in her hands, leaning on the table. "Nothing happened. Harry's been staying over at my flat taking care of me because I can't even act like a grown adult and I thought it was about time he took a break. And seeing as you like it when I visit, I figured it was a brilliant plan." Alright, so that was mostly true. She was only leaving out the fact that she'd snogged him something good and proper at the clubhouse and wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it all seeing as she was supposed to be making him make up for the fact that he'd been gone for so bloody long. Snogging his face off was definitely not part of the plan. Or rather, she'd skipped some steps in the inbetween. Of course, sneaking out on Harry to pop over to Hermione and Teddy's and then run to the Burrow without properly talking about it, probably wasn't the best way to cover those inbetween steps.

"Mmmhmm. So this has absolutely nothing to do with you and Harry, then?" Molly asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"It has to do with Harry needing a break from keeping me from hurting myself." Ginny said, silently adding in her own need for a break from Harry until she had this all sorted in her mind.

"So I ought to just forget about the owl I got from Harry asking what he did wrong that you weren't at your flat and only left a hastily scrawled note that you were going to be here til the weekend?" Molly asked, holding up the piece of parchment with Harry's handwriting on it.

"That boy is paranoid." Ginny said, looking back down and grabbing another potato to peel.

"Well I can hardly fault him for that! The way you've been treating him." Molly said, taking the potato away from her daughter and setting on the table. "Now, what is this really about and don't tell me it isn't about anything because I'm tired, the others will be over soon enough for dinner and it's a lie anyhow."

"Who else is coming for dinner?" Ginny asked, her selective hearing working wonders as it usually did.

"Ginevra!" Her mother warned. "Answer my question."

Ginny sighed in defeat and ran a hand through her messy waves. "It's just that…I mean he's here now. He's always asking if I'm alright and he stayed that whole time at Mungo's and he's just…He's everywhere and he's sweet and he's caring and he's exactly who I remember him being."

"And that's a problem because you've spent the last two years making him out to be an awful wretch of a person for disappearing on you and it's not fair of him to screw that image up." Molly finished, understanding a bit more.

"But it's more than that." Ginny explained, shaking her head. "I mean, fine, he's not awful and terrible like I wanted him to be because I was feeling all awful and terrible and needed some sort of explanation for what was going through his mind and it had to have been that he just didn't love me and he didn't know how or was too scared to tell me to my face. But now he's here and I'm starting to understand that the why of it and it wasn't nearly as awful or as selfish as I had made myself believe it was, though I still think he ought to have at least told someone he was going or sent a letter back or…" She sighed, determined not to dwell on that aspect of it.

"So he's here and he's explained and isn't that what you wanted?" Molly asked, resting a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder and rubbing it lightly.

"Yes? No? I don't know. I mean, I guess it was what I wanted at first. But then I moved on and did so much to get past all of it and you remember those awful blokes I brought over and it was just…" Ginny sighed again and shook her head. "It was hard and this just seems so…easy. Too easy."

"Ginny, I still don't understand the problem. You're through with the awful blokes and Harry is back and the two of you get to have what you always thought you were going to have." Molly tried to reason. She didn't know why Ginny wasn't letting herself be happy.

"What if he leaves? What if he decides he's been gone and thinking about everything and had built me up in his mind and when he got back he was wrong and I'm not what he wants after all and that coming back was this huge mistake and now he's stuck taking care of me because I can't do things on my own because I got hurt and he just up and leaves me and then I'm right back where I was before he ever came back and only this time it's worse because I got my hopes all up again and—"

Molly started laughing and shaking her head. "Ginevra Molly Weasley what have you done to yourself?" The older woman laughed. "What happened to the confident little girl I knew?"

"She got hurt by a bloke who said he'd be there and then he wasn't." Ginny answered embarrassed that she'd even said anything to begin with.

"You're so quick to get back on a broom after falling off in the middle of match and nearly getting yourself killed, but you're afraid of being with Harry even though you know he's a decent bloke who cares very much about you and wants nothing else except for you to forgive him for a mistake he made?" Molly asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well when you say it like _that_…" Ginny grumbled, hiding her face in the crook of her elbows on the table.

"How else would you like me to say it dear? That's exactly what it is." Her mother laughed and laid a gentle and reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I don't see how getting back on that blasted broom is any different than getting back together with Harry."

"But you don't want me to get back on that blasted broom." Ginny pointed out lifting her head up just enough to catch her mother's gaze.

"I didn't say that. I said I wanted you to know the risks; which you assured me you do. And if you didn't know the risks about getting back with Harry, you wouldn't be so conflicted about it all, so I'm not worried there either." Molly clarified.

Ginny couldn't wait until she was a Mum and she was always right too. This was getting a bit bothersome. "So you think I ought to tell Harry I'd like to try being together again?"

"I think you ought to give him a fighting chance. The poor dear doesn't know where he stands and you running off here doesn't do anything to help him out." She brushed her hand over her daughter's hair and smiled. "That's why I invited him for dinner tonight. So you pair could have a proper talk and all." With that, Molly stood up and walked over to the stove to grab the pot for the potatoes so she could start them to boil.

"You invited him for dinner?" Ginny asked incredulously. "Mum!"

"Oh hush. It's been ages since he's been over for a meal and he looked peaky the last time I saw him. Besides, your father and your brothers will want to see him as well. Don't be selfish." Molly had an innate ability to get her way in the Burrow. Ginny was not pleased, but that didn't stop her mother from humming along cheerily to the wireless.

"I expect you have our wedding half planned as well?" Ginny muttered to herself as she flicked her wand to set to work on the green beans.

"What was that dear?" Molly asked, feigning innocence.

"Nothing, Mum." Ginny sighed. There really was no use fighting it, really. Molly was going to have her way, and what made it all the worse was that Ginny _knew_ her mother was right. She just didn't like to admit to being wrong. And she was scared. So much for the brave Gryffindor.

Before too long, dinner was ready, Charlie, Fred, Ange, George, Ron and Harry had all arrived. Nora was meant to come with Charlie, but one of the twins was sick and so she'd stayed at home to take care of her. Ginny, of course ended up sitting next to Harry who kept giving her unsure glances all throughout the meal.

They talked about Ginny's new contract with the Harpies, which everyone was quite pleased about, except Molly who simply gave a tight lipped smile and didn't say much on the topic. They talked about Harry's meeting with Kingsley later that week to get into the Auror Academy which again everyone was quite pleased about. They talked about Arthur's upcoming honorary dinner and Harry managed to get himself dragged into saying yes to going. They talked about Fred and Ange's upcoming wedding and how Charlie and Nora ought to just get hitched already. Charlie was a little bit less than pleased with that turn of the conversation and quickly changed the subject to something a bit more mundane.

When supper was ended, Ginny was not very surprised at all to find herself washing dishes. She was less surprised when Harry moseyed in looking vaguely confused. He must've just talked to Molly.

"Er…D'you need any help?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sure. Have you kept up on your drying skills?" She asked tossing him a dish towel, giving him a small smile.

"Might not be up to your standards, but I can give it a shot." He said moving closer.

The pair worked in a kind of strained silence. Ginny kept trying to catch his eye but she kept missing his glances. Sighing she finally turned to him and dropped the dish she was holding into the sudsy water.

"I wasn't mad at you when I left this morning." She said after a moment.

"What?" Harry asked, pulled from his own thoughts when the silence was broken. He looked over at her.

"This morning. My note that I was staying at the Burrow til the weekend. It…I wasn't…It wasn't you." Well, not entirely anyhow.

"Oh." He said a bit lamely, now avoiding her gaze. "Your mum told you about…I didn't mean to…I just…I was worried that I'd…" He was sort of rambling and eventually was able to catch himself. "Sorry."

"No. I shouldn't have…" Oh this conversation was going _brilliantly_. Really. She let out a heavy sigh and cursed under her breath. "Look, I'm sorry for the flee, but I just needed to…think about what happened and figured that I ought to do that when I wasn't…" She trailed off, giving a vague sort of gesture with her soapy hands. Okay, so she wasn't great with the words part of this talking thing.

"I get it." Harry said softly chancing a glance over to her. "It's alright. But we're…You're not…We're alright?"

Ginny nodded and swallowed hard. "We're alright." She paused a moment and took a deep breath.

"But there's something else." Harry said watching her carefully. He might not have been there for a while, but he still figured he knew here pretty well. He might not be able to tell _what_ it was, but he knew there was _something_ still on her mind. He couldn't help but feeling anxious about it.

"It's the huge pink hippogriff in the room, Harry." She half laughed. "It's what I've been unable to stop thinking about but not wanting to bring up because I am starting to understand and I'm not angry about it and it's water under the bridge or something, but…" She let out another sigh and looked over at him. "If you leave again—"

"I'm not leaving." Harry interrupted his voice firm. "Ginny, I'm not. I swear it. I was stupid and impulsive and didn't know how to handle everything…anything and I'm not that person anymore." He reached over and grabbed her still vaguely soapy hand. "I'd like to think I've gotten a bit more sense about me this time around."

Ginny searched his eyes a bit helplessly for a moment. "I'd like to think that I've got a bit more sense about me too, and it's telling me that I oughtn't…" She pulled her hands away from his and rested them on the edge of the sink. "That I should've learned my lesson and keep myself from getting hurt."

"I didn't mean to hurt you—"

"But you did. Harry, I was a mess and I…I can't go back to that place." She bit her lower lip and looked down at the sink. But he put a hand on her shoulder turning her to face him.

"Ginny, it kills me that I hurt you but I'm not going anywhere. Not again. I…I love you. I always have. I never stopped. Not even for a second. And I'm not giving you up again." He paused and smiled at her. Before her could open his mouth to say anything else, she was leaning up and kissing him. His arm snaked around her waist to hold her close. He wasn't letting her go. Not again.

**A/N:** So I'm pretty sure this is the last chapter. Please let me know what you think and thanks so much for reading! Sorry about the long delays between the last few chapters. Life sort of got in my way. :)


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